In many ways surpassing even the famed Edmond Dédé among Black New Orleanians who had musical careers abroad were the half-brothers Charles Lucièn and Sidney...

In many ways surpassing even the famed Edmond Dédé among Black New Orleanians who had musical careers abroad were the half-brothers Charles Lucièn and Sidney Lambert (c. 1838-c. 1900). Their father, Dédé's early teacher Charles Richard Lambert, was their first teacher. Lucièn's mother appears to have been a Louisiana free Creole of color. Charles Lucièn's son Lucièn-Léon Guillaume was born in 1858 - just outside Paris, where his father had succeeded in securing publication of his compositions.

"Included in this disc is an overture to one of Lucièn Lambert Jr.'s two grand operas, Brocéliande, written between 1891 and 1893. Brocéliande was once the ancient forest of Amorica (later Breton, then Brittany). The forest of the King Arthur legend, Brocéliande is where Morgaine entrapped Merlin because of his love for the fair Vivian. Lambert Jr. collaborated with poet André Alexandre to transform the Arthur legend into the Grand Opéra, Brocéliande, in 1890. [It] was premièred...in Rouen in January 1893, where it was critically acclaimed...The sumptuous harmonic language Lambert Jr. employs calls to mind (a very American) Wagner[.]"

--Richard Rosenberg