Vicente Lusitano

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Vicente Lusitano (died after 1561) was a Portuguese composer and theorist of the late Renaissance. He was possibly of African descent,[1][2] and has a claim to being the first published black composer.[3]

Life and career[]

Lusitano, which means "Portuguese", appears to be a nickname rather than a family name. He was born in Olivença, but little else is known for certain of his life, including the dates of his birth and death. Some information is recorded in the 18th century biography by Diogo Barbosa Machado: he came from Olivença, became a priest, and was employed as a teacher both at Padua and Viterbo. Very little of what Machado wrote about him has been verified by any other source, except the date of publication (1561) of a music theory treatise at Venice.

Music[]

He wrote a number of choral works, including Latin motets (published as Liber primus epigramatum que vulgo motetta dicuntur, 5, 6, 8vv, Rome, 1551) and a madrigal. In several works he references Josquin des Prez, who had died 30 years before. For example, he reworked des Prez' motet Inviolata, integra for more voices.

Lusitano's music has been revived in recent years, for example by the Marian Consort.[4] Before the revival he was better remembered for his work as a theorist. In a 1551 debate in Rome, he espoused traditional views on the role of the three genera in music (diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic) over more radical ones put forward by Nicola Vicentino (Lusitano was deemed to have won the debate). His Introduttione facilissima, et novissima, di canto fermo, figurato, contraponto semplice, et inconcerto (Rome, 1553, and again at Venice, 1561),[5] contains an introduction to music, a section on improvised counterpoint (setting new parts above or below a cantus firmus), and his views on the three genera.

References[]

  1. ^ Spicer, Jonathan, ed. (2012). Revealing the African presence in Renaissance Europe. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum. p. 24. ISBN 9780911886788.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Flandreau, Suzanne (1998). "Black Music in the Academy: The Center for Black Music Research". Notes. 55 (1): 26–36. doi:10.2307/900345. JSTOR 900345.
  3. ^ "Vicente Lusitano, the first published black composer". Radio Three (BBC radio programme on Lusitano, broadcast on June 28th, 2021).
  4. ^ "Proms at Cadogan Hall". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  5. ^ Introduttione. Bibliothèque nationale de France
  • Bonnie Blackburn: "Vicente Lusitano", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 6, 2006), (subscription access)

External links[]


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