When asked who was a great classical music composer, maybe Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, or Paganini come to mind. Looking at these composers, what do they seem to all share in common? They are European, accomplished composers, masters in their music field of choice, and, most importantly, they are white. Music history classes across colleges primarily focus on composers who have been classified as “dead, white, old guys” and rarely mention women or people of color. From the perspective of a standard music history class, it appears as if nowhere other than Western Europe, with the occasional mention of Russia, made music from the 17th century on.
Of course, select universities offer courses focusing on the history of jazz, cross-cultural music, or modern music; but often these are not a mandatory part of the curriculum and are seen as electives. Has music history chosen to ignore historical musicians that are people of color or did they simply not exist? One artist that music history has chosen to ignore is George Bridgetower, an Afro-European violinist who lived from 1778-1860.
Bridgetower was a contemporary of Beethoven whom he had impressed with his skills. Beethoven promised to write Bridgetower a sonata to be performed at a concert with him, however, Beethoven only gave the piece to Bridgetower the night before. Despite the obvious setback, Bridgetower was able to amaze the audience with his majestic violin playing causing Beethoven to be so inspired that he named the sonata after him. However, later on after the concert, Bridgetower made a comment about a potential lover of Beethoven’s which was not well received, causing Beethoven to shun Bridgetower and rename the sonata the Kreutzer Sonata. This brought fame and fortune to Kreutzer, a fellow composer, but caused Bridgetower to die in poverty and fade into obscurity.
Bridgetower’s career is rarely discussed in music history, ignoring his relationship with Beethoven. Is it possible that stories like these happened throughout history and were also ignored? That those who control the narrative choose who is significant in history and who is not? Does prejudice and discrimination play a role? If we were able to delve into our music history and make it more inclusive and historically accurate, what would it look like?