Vicente Lusitano

Vicente Lusitano (c. 1520 – c. 1561) was an Afro-Portuguese composer and music theorist of the late Renaissance. Some of his works on musical theory and a small number of compositions survive. Lusitano was for a time a Catholic priest and taught in several Italian cities, but later converted to Protestantism.

He is believed to have been of mixed race. Since the 1980s, he has been described as the first published black composer.

Lusitano, a Portuguese-language term for "Portuguese", appears to be a descriptive nickname rather than a family name. Little is known of his life. He was born in Olivença, likely around 1520. Lusitano is described as pardo, a Portuguese term indicating he was of mixed European and non-European heritage. It has been suggested that his mother may have been of African descent. According to a manuscript by the 17th-century Portuguese critic Joao Franco Barreto, Lusitano came from Olivença, became a Catholic priest, and was employed as a teacher at PaduaViterbo and Rome. His books and manuscripts of his musical compositions survive and are dated. Lusitano was in Rome by 1551.From the dedication of one of his first works, it has been suggested that Lusitano was a tutor to the Portuguese Lencastre family, who also arrived in Rome in 1551 as ambassador to the Papal court. By 1561 he had married, converted to Calvinist Protestantism, and traveled to Germany. There is no record of him after 1561.

In the 16th century, composers were usually employed by the Church, but there is no evidence that he held such a salaried post.