Victor-Eugene McCarty

Who is Victor-Eugene McCarty?

Victor-Eugene McCarty, a Louisiana Creole, was one of the first of several prominent free black composers in New Orleans, best known for publishing Fleurs de salon: 2 Favorite Polkas in 1854. In the 1840s he was among the first black men to study music abroad, at the Paris Conservatory.

McCarty did not publish as widely as many of his fellow Creole composers of the era, but he was well known for performing and organizing other musicians, and playing a role in Reconstruction-era politics.