Vicente Lusitano (his surname being a descriptor, simply meaning ‘Portuguese’) remains a largely unknown figure to modern audiences, despite the obvious quality of his music, his contemporary fame and importance as a music theorist and composer, and his intriguing status as very likely the first published composer of African descent.

We present a recital of Lusitano’s works, with music from his sole surviving printed collection heard alongside an extraordinary work taken from his theoretical writings and a motet written for the Protestant Württemburg court. These are interspersed with music by Lusitano’s Portuguese contemporary Pedro de Cristo, a Mass and Marian antiphons by another notable Iberian musician active in sixteenth-century Rome, Tomas Luis de Victoria, and a celebratory motet by Ghiselin Danckerts, who played a crucial role in Lusitano’s famous Roman debate of 1551.

Tomas Luis de Victoria Ave regina caelorum a8

Vicente Lusitano Regina caeli laetare

Tomas Luis de Victoria Missa Ave regina caelorum a8, Kyrie & Gloria

Vicente Lusitano Heu me, Domine

Dom Pedro de Cristo Miserere mihi Domine

Vicente Lusitano Sancta mater

Ghiselin Danckerts Laetamini in Domino

INTERVAL

Tomas Luis de Victoria Ave Maria a8

Vicente Lusitano Beati omnes

Tomas Luis de Victoria Missa Ave regina caelorum a8, Sanctus & Benedictus

Vicente Lusitano Aspice Domine

Tomas Luis de Victoria Missa Ave regina caelorum a8, Agnus Dei

Vicente Lusitano Inviolata a8