VPR Classical Timeline

We’ve been exploring the life of Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a multi-talented violinist, composer and conductor who was famous in France in the 18th Century. In the last four episodes, as we’ve relayed all of this history, I’ve left something out on purpose, but it’s now time to address the elephant in the room. Anyone who has studied or listened to the music of Chevalier will know him by a particular nickname, “The Black Mozart” a title given after his death.

Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a world-renowned fencer, a composer, violinist and conductor in 18th century France. Even with all of his success, there was a limit to what Chevalier was allowed to achieve.

This is our third episode exploring the life of 18th Century French composer, violinist and conductor Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges. We’re answering the question, why was this incredibly talented individual, who was quite popular in his day, barely known to us today. In the last episode we spoke about Joseph’s heritage, being the son of a Senegalese enslaved individual and French aristocrat. In this episode we’ll dive into the early life of this multi-talented prodigy.

***Just a quick content warning before we begin. This episode will make references to sexual assault and might be triggering for some listeners.*** Chevalier’s father, George, was born into a long line of colonists. The family owned extensive sugar and coffee plantations in Guadeloupe and beyond, meaning they were quite wealthy and had participated in slavery.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was an 18th Century French composer, violinist and conductor of mixed race. Why was this talented individual, who was quite well known in his day, all but forgotten in ours?

Timeline from Vermont Public Classical presents the ten-part series about composer Julius Eastman as one complete podcast episode. Explore the life and legacy of this amazingly talented composer/performer who died penniless and homeless in 1990, but whose work is finally getting the attention it deserves today.

This is our final episode in our ten-part series on the life, music and legacy of composer Julius Eastman. Over the course of ten episodes, we’ve talked about art, race, sexuality, expression, and who gets to be in the classical canon. As we wrap up this discussion we remember Julius Eastman separate from his musical legacy, Eastman the person. And hear some stories told by the people who knew him.

This is part nine of our ten part series on composer Julius Eastman. The Classical canon is a collection of pieces that are the most often played and studied; sort of like the greatest hits of classical music. It’s a curated list of quote/unquote “important” pieces, composers and works. This curation started in the 19th century and the list heavily favors white, European men. In this episode we'll talk about righting the canon by making room for more diverse voices and composers.

This is part eight of our ten part series about Julius Eastman; a composer whose work has been experiencing a renaissance lately as a new generation is discovering his individual musical style.

This is the seventh of our ten part series about Julius Eastman; a composer whose work has been experiencing a renaissance lately as a new generation is discovering his individual musical style. In this episode we'll discuss the way that Eastman chose to title his works and push the boundaries of classical music.

We’re at part six of our ten-part series exploring the life, work and influence of composer Julius Eastman. We’ve talked a lot about Eastman’s past and personality, in this episode we’ll focus on his music.

We’re deep in our series exploring the life and legacy of composer Julius Eastman. We’ve already spoken with authors, composers and musicians who are bringing Eastman’s music and story to a new generation. In this episode, we have the chance to hear more of the story first-hand.

We’re at part four of our ten part series exploring the life and legacy of Julius Eastman, an openly gay, black composer that died nearly forgotten, penniless and homeless in 1990; nearly forgotten that is, until now.

We’re focusing on the life and influence of Julius Eastman, a composer who is just now getting his due attention in the classical world. For decades, Julius’ music was all but forgotten; that is until another composer, a friend of Eastman, got involved.

This is part two of our series on the life and works of Julius Eastman, a deeply neglected composer of contemporary music in the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, he was almost forgotten. I, myself, had barely heard of Eastman in all my musical studies and he certainly wasn’t on my radar, that is until an email appeared in my inbox.

On Timeline, we will be diving into the music, life and legacy of Julius. We’ll look at his development as a musician and an artist. We’ll talk about his reputation and his struggles with being an openly gay, black man in the late 70s and early 80s. We’ll discuss the triumph and tragedy and also discuss the place that Eastman’s music has, or should have, in the canon. Of course, that means talking about the very concept of the classical canon itself.

On September 27, 2017, the nation of Ghana gathered to celebrate the life and music of 96 year old composer Kwabena Nketia. On that day it was declared that, “…Professor Nketia’s life symbolizes the evolution of our nation in the 20th century…a bridge between our indigenous culture and modern culture, non-literate and literate traditions, old and young artists, Ghana and Africa...” The event was also held to raise funds to archive Nketia’s lifelong work of ethnomusicology. According to the University of Ghana, Nketia had collected, “thousands of archival files and field notes on Ghanaian culture, history, language and arts.”

Abdullah Ibraim, also known as Dollar Brand, was born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town, South Africa in 1934. He started taking piano lessons at the age of seven and was performing professionally by the time he was 15. Brand was of mixed-race so under the South African apartheid system, he was considered “colored.”

Justinian Tamusuza is one of the premiere, contemporary African composers today. His music has been compared to American minimalist composers like Steve Reich and John Adams. However, what sets Tamusuza apart is his use of rhythm that calls to mind the pulse of traditional African music.

We continue our series on African composers by exploring the life, music and legacy of Cameroonian composer, Francis Bebey.