Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Duration: 1'28'32''

Synopsis

Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein celebrate black classical composers and musicians across the centuries whose stories and music have largely been forgotten.

Further Information

More clips from Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Chevalier de Saint-Georges | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Chevalier de Saint-Georges | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 11'32''

Chevalier de Saint-Georges (AKA Joseph Bologne) was a French violinist, and is credited with being ...

Florence Price | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Florence Price | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 8'55''

As hard as it was trying to break through in to the classical music scene as a black man, Florence Price had it...

George Bridgetower | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

George Bridgetower | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 5'15''

Bridgetower was a British musician whose fame drew attention from the likes of Beethoven who wrote a sonata...

George Walker | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

George Walker | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 2'32''

95-year-old American composer George Walker had his first performance of any of his music when his piece ''Lyric...

Ignatius Sancho | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Ignatius Sancho | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 9'17''

Sancho was born on a slave ship, and lost both his parents. Despite racial adversity he carved his way to maki...

John Blank | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

John Blank | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 6'08''

John Blank was one of the first documented Tudor Britons painted in a manuscript and was a trumpet-player for Henry...

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 15'53''

As slavery was being abolished, black musicians and composers didn't have to conform to western tropes...

Scott Joplin | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Scott Joplin | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 8'55''

Coleridge-Taylor inspired American composers to take Afro-centric ideas further, allowing pioneers like Scott Jop...

Shirley Thompson | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Shirley Thompson | Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

BBC Four | 2020 | 4'25''

Shirley Thompson OBE wrote a symphony for the Queens golden jubilee in 2002; she speaks of combining her two ...

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