Thomas Baker (musician)

[1] Baker joined the orchestra of the French conductor and composer Louis-Antoine Jullien, and with this ensemble he traveled on a concert tour to the United States in 1853.

He decided to remain in America, and began his career working in the United States as an opera conductor at Niblo's Garden in New York City.

[citation needed] In 1861, Baker published the first "sheet-music publication of any black spiritual", Song of the Contrabands.

[2] His efforts were later criticized as betraying a lack of knowledge of black music, for having "turned the slave song into a parlor ballad in 68 time".

[3] He was credited with writing the music for the 1866 stage production The Black Crook, which premiered at Niblo's Garden in New York City, using a melodrama and a French ballet troupe whose venue burnt to the ground while they still rehearsed.