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Avril Coleridge-Taylor always felt the burden of her father’s reputation. As the daughter of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the prominent English composers of the turn of the 20th century, the composer’s name was enveloped in the deep shadows of history.

A World Premiere

Not long ago, I reflected on these memories as I made arrangements to produce the world premiere recording of Avril’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. Featuring impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, this piece will grant new listeners deep understanding into how this artist – an artist in conflict born in 1903 – imagined her existence as a female composer of color.

Shadows and Truth

However about shadows. One needs patience to adapt, to see shapes as they actually appear, to distinguish truth from distortion, and I had been afraid to address Avril’s past for a period.

I deeply hoped her to be following in her father’s footsteps. To some extent, that held. The idyllic English tones of Samuel’s influence can be detected in numerous compositions, such as From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). But you only have to look at the names of her father’s compositions to see how he viewed himself as not just a standard-bearer of British Romantic style as well as a representative of the African diaspora.

At this point father and daughter began to differ.

The United States assessed the composer by the excellence of his music as opposed to the colour of his skin.

Family Background

While he was studying at the Royal College of Music, Samuel – the offspring of a African father and a Caucasian parent – began embracing his African roots. Once the African American poet the renowned Dunbar came to London in that era, the young musician was keen to meet him. He set Dunbar’s African Romances into music and the next year incorporated his poetry for an opera, Dream Lovers. Subsequently arrived the choral work that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, notably for the Black community who felt indirect honor as the majority evaluated the composer by the excellence of his art instead of the colour of his skin.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not temper his activism. During that period, he participated in the First Pan African Conference in England where he encountered the Black American thinker WEB Du Bois and witnessed a series of speeches, such as the mistreatment of the Black community there. He was a campaigner until the end. He sustained relationships with pioneers of civil rights like this intellectual and this leader, delivered his own speeches on equality for all, and even engaged in dialogue on matters of race with President Theodore Roosevelt on a trip to the White House in that year. Regarding his compositions, Du Bois recalled, “he made his mark so high as a musician that it will long be remembered.” He succumbed in that year, aged 37. However, how would Samuel have made of his daughter’s decision to work in South Africa in the 1950s?

Conflict and Policy

“Offspring of Renowned Musician shows support to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the community journal Jet magazine. This policy “struck me as the correct approach”, Avril told Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she didn’t agree with apartheid “in principle” and it “ought to be permitted to run its course, overseen by benevolent South Africans of every background”. Were the composer more aligned to her parent’s beliefs, or from segregated America, she may have reconsidered about the policy. But life had protected her.

Background and Inexperience

“I hold a UK passport,” she stated, “and the authorities failed to question me about my ethnicity.” Therefore, with her “light” appearance (according to the magazine), she traveled within European circles, buoyed up by their admiration for her deceased parent. She delivered a lecture about her family’s work at the educational institution and directed the broadcasting ensemble in that location, including the bold final section of her composition, titled: “In memory of my Father.” Although a skilled pianist herself, she never played as the lead performer in her piece. Instead, she invariably directed as the maestro; and so the segregated ensemble played under her baton.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “could introduce a shift”. But by 1954, circumstances deteriorated. Once officials learned of her Black ancestry, she had to depart the country. Her UK document offered no defense, the British high commissioner urged her to go or face arrest. She returned to England, deeply ashamed as the extent of her innocence was realized. “The realization was a painful one,” she lamented. Adding to her embarrassment was the release in 1955 of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her unceremonious exit from the country.

A Common Narrative

Upon contemplating with these memories, I perceived a familiar story. The account of holding UK citizenship until it’s revoked – that brings to mind Black soldiers who fought on behalf of the British during the World War II and made it through but were not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,