Charles Lucien Lambert, also known as Lucien Lambert (1828–1896), was a black American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer, born a free person of color in New Orleans before the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He moved away from the United States in 1854 because of racism.

Early life and education

Lambert was born in New Orleans to Charles-Richard Lambert, a native of New York, and his wife, a free woman of color. They were a very musical family. Free people of color constituted a special class in New Orleans, where they had privileges not available to free blacks in other areas.

After his mother's death, his father married Coralie Suzanne Orzy, also a free woman of color. They had a son Sidney, born in 1838, and the half-brothers learned to be musicians together.

Marriage and family

Lambert married a French woman. Their son Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert, born in 1858, became a musician and composer, more well-known than his father. He was sometimes called Lucien Lambert fils (son). Together with the work of the violinist and composer Edmond Dédé

Edmond Dédé

Edmond Dédé was a free-born Creole musician and composer. He moved to Europe to study in Paris in 1857 and settled in France. His compositions include Quasimodo Symphony, Le Palmier Overture, Le Sermente de L'Arabe and Patriotisme...

, Lucien-Leon Lambert's compositions are considered classics of Romantic Creole music.

Career

Because of racism in the US, Lambert moved to France with his family in 1854. Numerous of his compositions are held by the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris.

Sometime in the 1860s, he moved his family to Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, where he was so associated with French music that some historians referred to him as a French musician. Lambert had a piano and music store in the city. He also became part of the Brazilian National Institute of Music. In 1869 he greeted Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...

, a contemporary French Creole

Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...

 whom he had known as a fellow musician in New Orleans. Both Lambert and his son Lucien played in one of Gottschalk's massive works, one calling for 31 pianists to play together.

He died in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, while performing there with his son Sidney.