Charles Lucien Lambert

Charles Lucien Lambert (1828–1896), also known as Lucien Lambert, Sr. or Lucien Lambert père, was an American pianist, music teacher and composer. Born a free person of color in New Orleans, he was part of a family of prominent Creole composers who gained international acclaim.

Early life and education Lambert was born in New Orleans to Charles-Richard Lambert, a native of New York, and his wife, a free Creole woman of color. They were a very musical family. After his mother's death, his father married Coralie Suzanne Orzy, also a free woman of color. They had a son Sidney Lambert, born in 1838, and the half-brothers learned to be musicians together.

Marriage and family Lambert married a French woman. Their son Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert, born in Paris in 1858, became a musician and composer, more well-known than his father. He was sometimes called Lucien Lambert fils (son), Sometime in the 1860s, he moved his family to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he served as chief musician in Dom Pedro's court.

Lambert died in Rio. Numerous of his compositions are held by the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris.