In 1752, the Portuguese Catholic priest Diogo Barbosa Machado signed an entry in the Bibliotheca Lusitana about a Portuguese musician named Vincente Lusitano. Machado writes that Lusitano was born in the city of Olivenza, was ordained to the Order of St. Peter, that he taught music “with great success, receiving high teaching from his students.”

However, Machado misses an important detail, although he refers to one of his sources – a 17th-century manuscript signed by João Franco Barretto. There Lusitano is described as “pardo”, that is, mixed race. It is very likely that he had an African mother and a Portuguese father.

“Was this omission accidental or deliberate?” asks the anonymous editor of the booklet accompanying the digital recording of the Lusitano Motets on the Linn label (2022 release) by the beautiful Marian Consort.

Vicente Lusitano most likely had an African mother and a Portuguese father.

In the history of so-called classical music, the only known black composer is Joseph Vollon, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), “black Mozart”. The illegitimate child of a French planter in Guadeloupe and a black slave from Senegal, Volon, a contemporary of Mozart (they met), composed beautiful works, and also took part in the French Revolution. Volon enjoys an afterthought, Lusitano, again, not.

In addition to his work on music theory and, of course, the “musical delights” (for angelic voices) that he left behind, Lusitano is known in musicological circles for his public dispute on matters of religious music with Nicola Vicentino in Rome in 1551. Lusitano’s performance of the motet “Regina Caeli” (included on the CD) caused controversy over the special timbres of his music, as well as the use of ancient Greek music modes. However, two great composers appear to have been key influences: Josquin Despres (1450–1521) and the alleged “first English composer” John Dunstable (1390–1453).

A jury composed of members of the Sistine Chapel acquitted Lusitano. But Vicentino took the historians on his side and almost destroyed the little musician. In any case, he was an “outsider” just because of the color of his skin.

Lusitano disappears for ten years. He is traced back to 1561 when he married and converted to Protestantism. He probably lived from 1520 to 1563 or 1564. And it’s all. Everything else is music. Vocal music that seems to come from another, secret, transcendent dimension.