🔗 Share this article

The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly bore the burden of her parent’s legacy. As the daughter of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous British artists of the turn of the 20th century, her reputation was shrouded in the lingering obscurity of the past.

A World Premiere

Not long ago, I contemplated these shadows as I got ready to make the first-ever recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. With its intense musical themes, heartfelt tunes, and bold rhythms, her composition will offer music lovers valuable perspective into how she – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – envisioned her reality as a artist with mixed heritage.

Shadows and Truth

Yet about shadows. It can take a while to acclimate, to recognize outlines as they really are, to distinguish truth from misinterpretation, and I felt hesitant to face her history for a while.

I deeply hoped her to be following in her father’s footsteps. To some extent, that held. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be observed in many of her works, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to examine the names of her family’s music to see how he viewed himself as both a standard-bearer of English Romanticism and also a voice of the African heritage.

At this point Samuel and Avril began to differ.

White America judged Samuel by the brilliance of his compositions as opposed to the his racial background.

Parental Heritage

During his studies at the prestigious music college, Samuel – the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a British mother – began embracing his heritage. When the poet of color this literary figure visited the UK in that era, the young musician actively pursued him. He adapted the poet’s African Romances into music and the subsequent year incorporated his poetry for an opera, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral work that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an global success, particularly among Black Americans who felt shared pride as white America evaluated the composer by the quality of his music instead of the his background.

Activism and Politics

Recognition did not temper Samuel’s politics. During that period, he attended the First Pan African Conference in England where he made the acquaintance of the prominent scholar this influential figure and saw a variety of discussions, covering the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He was an activist to his final days. He kept connections with early civil rights leaders such as Du Bois and Booker T Washington, gave addresses on racial equality, and even discussed matters of race with the American leader on a trip to the presidential residence in the early 1900s. In terms of his art, reminisced Du Bois, “he established his reputation so high as a creative artist that it will endure.” He died in 1912, in his thirties. But what would the composer have thought of his offspring’s move to work in South Africa in the 1950s?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the Black American publication Jet magazine. The system “seems to me the correct approach”, she informed Jet. When pushed to clarify, she revised her statement: she didn’t agree with this policy “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to run its course, guided by well-meaning residents of every background”. If Avril had been more attuned to her family’s principles, or raised in Jim Crow America, she could have hesitated about the policy. However, existence had protected her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a British passport,” she stated, “and the authorities failed to question me about my race.” So, with her “light” complexion (according to the magazine), she traveled alongside white society, lifted by their acclaim for her late father. She presented about her father’s music at the Cape Town university and directed the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in that location, including the inspiring part of her Piano Concerto, titled: “Dedicated to my Father.” While a skilled pianist on her own, she avoided playing as the featured artist in her piece. Rather, she consistently conducted as the conductor; and so the segregated ensemble followed her lead.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “may foster a change”. But by 1954, things fell apart. After authorities learned of her African heritage, she was forced to leave the country. Her citizenship failed to safeguard her, the UK representative advised her to leave or face arrest. She came home, embarrassed as the magnitude of her innocence was realized. “This experience was a painful one,” she stated. Increasing her disgrace was the printing that year of her controversial discussion, a year after her sudden departure from the country.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these shadows, I perceived a known narrative. The story of identifying as British until it’s revoked – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who served for the English throughout the global conflict and lived only to be denied their due compensation. Including those from Windrush,