Sidney Lambert (c.1838-1905) was a Black American composer and pianist born into an established musical family in New Orleans. Sidney, along with his father, Charles-Richard, and his half brother, Lucien, were respected composers and musicians in the US and abroad. Sidney and Lucien were born to free Creole parents.
Sidney’s first teacher was his father, and his first musical position was playing the piano in the pit of the Théâtre d’Orléans. After relocating to Europe, he worked as a court musician in Portugal where he was honored by the King for writing a piano teaching method in the 1870s. Later in his career he taught in Paris, and the BNF now holds 32 of his works composed between 1866 and 1899. Many of his works are arrangements.
Source
Kein, Sybil. Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana’s Free People of Color. LSU Press, 2000.
Works Featured on Expanding the Music Theory Canon
Transports Joyeux
Excerpt
Pages: Period, Incomplete Neighbor, Modulation
Ninon
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Pages: Sentence, Chromatic Mediants