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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor always felt the weight of her family heritage. As the offspring of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a leading the prominent UK artists of the turn of the 20th century, the composer’s name was shrouded in the long shadows of bygone eras.

The First Recording

In recent months, I sat with these shadows as I prepared to make the world premiere recording of her 1936 piano concerto. With its emotional harmonies, soulful lyricism, and bold rhythms, Avril’s work will provide new listeners fascinating insight into how she – a wartime composer who entered the world in 1903 – envisioned her existence as a female composer of color.

Legacy and Reality

But here’s the thing about the past. It requires time to adapt, to perceive forms as they really are, to separate fact from misinterpretation, and I was reluctant to face the composer’s background for some time.

I deeply hoped Avril to be her father’s daughter. Partially, she was. The rustic British sounds of her father’s impact can be detected in numerous compositions, such as From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only review the titles of her father’s compositions to see how he identified as both a flag bearer of British Romantic style as well as a representative of the African heritage.

It was here that father and daughter began to differ.

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

Parental Heritage

During his studies at the prestigious music college, her father – the son of a Sierra Leonean father and a Caucasian parent – began embracing his background. Once the African American poet this literary figure came to London in 1897, the young musician eagerly sought him out. He composed this literary work as a composition and the subsequent year adapted his verses for a musical work, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral work that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an worldwide sensation, notably for the Black community who felt shared pride as the majority assessed his work by the excellence of his compositions rather than the his background.

Activism and Politics

Recognition did not temper Samuel’s politics. In 1900, he participated in the pioneering African conference in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the African American intellectual the renowned Du Bois and saw a range of talks, including on the subjugation of Black South Africans. He was an activist until the end. He maintained ties with early civil rights leaders such as Du Bois and the educator Washington, gave addresses on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on matters of race with the American leader while visiting to the US capital in 1904. Regarding his compositions, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so prominently as a composer that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He succumbed in the early 20th century, at 37 years old. However, how would the composer have made of his daughter’s decision to work in this country in the mid-20th century?

Conflict and Policy

“Offspring of Renowned Musician shows support to S African Bias,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. This policy “appeared to me the correct approach”, she informed Jet. When asked to explain, she qualified her remarks: she did not support with this policy “fundamentally” and it “should be allowed to resolve itself, overseen by benevolent people of diverse ethnicities”. Were the composer more in tune to her parent’s beliefs, or from Jim Crow America, she could have hesitated about this system. But life had protected her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a English document,” she stated, “and the officials never asked me about my race.” So, with her “porcelain-white” skin (according to the magazine), she floated among the Europeans, supported by their praise for her deceased parent. She delivered a lecture about her father’s music at the Cape Town university and conducted the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in the city, including the bold final section of her concerto, subtitled: “Dedicated to my Father.” Although a confident pianist on her own, she did not perform as the soloist in her work. Instead, she consistently conducted as the conductor; and so the orchestra of the era performed under her direction.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “could introduce a change”. But by 1954, things fell apart. Once officials learned of her African heritage, she could no longer stay the nation. Her UK document offered no defense, the British high commissioner advised her to leave or be jailed. She came home, deeply ashamed as the magnitude of her innocence became clear. “The lesson was a painful one,” she expressed. Increasing her embarrassment was the 1955 publication of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her sudden departure from that nation.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these shadows, I perceived a recurring theme. The story of identifying as British until you’re not – one that calls to mind troops of color who served for the English during the global conflict and survived only to be denied their due compensation. Along with the Windrush era,