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 ...

More resources about The British empire

Black Peoples of the Americas: 01: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

Black Peoples of the Americas: 01: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'00''

The development of the triangular trade is described from its ancient origins, through the Europea...

01: Profit and Loss | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

01: Profit and Loss | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 59'21''

In 1834 Britain abolished slavery, a defining and celebrated moment in our national history. What has been largely for...

Mahatma Gandhi | Icons

Mahatma Gandhi | Icons

BBC Two | 2019 | 13'36''

Mahatma Gandhi employed non violent tactics of passive resistance in the face of the largest empire the world had ever known, he not only helped to se...

Episode 1 | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

Episode 1 | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

BBC Two | 2014 | 58'57''

Dan Snow travels through India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionised British lifestyles and laid the fo...

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'35''

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 15'35''

David explains the horrendous treatment of the Aboriginal peoples of Tasmania by the British.

01: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

01: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'04''

David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian,...

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2017 | 59'11''

Lucy explores how British history is a concoction of fibs. She debunks the fibs that surround t...

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'27''

David Olusoga reveals how the loss of the American colonies led to the colonisation of Australia and how the Indian indenture system wa...

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

BBC Scotland | 2020 | 29'02''

Poet Jackie Kay tells the story of Arthur Roberts - one of thousands of black soldiers who fought in WWI. His diary provides a unique...

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Channel 4 | 2003 | 48'27''

In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations w...

S03E05: The Independence of India | Days That Shook the World

S03E05: The Independence of India | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2005 | 29'59''

The story of the Independence of India.

20th Century World: 02: The British Empire | History File

20th Century World: 02: The British Empire | History File

BBC Two | 1999 | 19'14''

The programme uses silhouette images and archive material to illustrate the life of the fictitious Grant family who...

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 9'41''

David explains how Britian sent their problem convicts abroad to the colonies for cheap labour, and many ...

06: Freedom | Michael Wood: The Story of India

06: Freedom | Michael Wood: The Story of India

BBC Two | 2007 | 59'02''

Michael Wood examines the British Raj and traces the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.

Episode 3 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 3 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'30''

David Olusoga reveals how the Empire reached its maximum size after the First World War but within a generation had begun to collapse, ...

06: Age of Empire | Seven Ages of Britain

06: Age of Empire | Seven Ages of Britain

BBC HD | 2010 | 59'10''

David Dimbleby travels through Britain, America and India, tracing the British Empire from 1750 to 1900.

Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'05''

A compilation of short films made specially for schools on the rise and fall of the East India Company, which acc...

01: A Taste for Power | Empire

01: A Taste for Power | Empire

BBC One | 2012 | 59'20''

Jeremy Paxman begins by asking how such a small country got such a big head and came to rule a quarter of the world.

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History

BBC One | 1978 | 19'54''

Programme covers events in India from the 1930s to Independence and Partition in 1947.