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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly felt the weight of her parent’s heritage. As the daughter of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the prominent English musicians of the 1900s, the composer’s identity was cloaked in the lingering obscurity of the past.

An Inaugural Recording

Not long ago, I contemplated these shadows as I made arrangements to produce the inaugural album of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. With its intense musical themes, heartfelt tunes, and valiant rhythms, this piece will provide music lovers valuable perspective into how the composer – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – conceived of her world as a artist with mixed heritage.

Past and Present

However about the past. One needs patience to adapt, to see shapes as they actually appear, to tell reality from misrepresentation, and I had been afraid to face her history for some time.

I deeply hoped the composer to be a reflection of her father. In some ways, this was true. The rustic British sounds of parental inspiration can be observed in numerous compositions, such as From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). But you only have to examine the titles of her family’s music to see how he viewed himself as not only a standard-bearer of English Romanticism as well as a representative of the African heritage.

It was here that Samuel and Avril began to differ.

The United States evaluated Samuel by the excellence of his art as opposed to the colour of his skin.

Family Background

While he was studying at the prestigious music college, the composer – the child of a African father and a white English mother – started to lean into his background. At the time the Black American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar visited the UK in that era, the aspiring artist was keen to meet him. He composed Dunbar’s African Romances to music and the subsequent year incorporated his poetry for a stage piece, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral work that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an international hit, particularly among African Americans who felt shared pride as the majority assessed his work by the excellence of his art rather than the his background.

Principles and Actions

Recognition did not reduce Samuel’s politics. At the turn of the century, he participated in the initial Pan African gathering in the UK where he met the prominent scholar WEB Du Bois and witnessed a range of talks, covering the mistreatment of Black South Africans. He was an activist until the end. He maintained ties with trailblazers for equality including the scholar and the educator Washington, gave addresses on ending discrimination, and even discussed matters of race with the US President while visiting to the presidential residence in the early 1900s. Regarding his compositions, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so notably as a creative artist that it will long be remembered.” He succumbed in 1912, aged 37. However, how would Samuel have made of his offspring’s move to be in this country in the that decade?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. Apartheid “seems to me the correct approach”, Avril told Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she didn’t agree with apartheid “as a concept” and it “could be left to resolve itself, overseen by well-meaning South Africans of all races”. Had Avril been more attuned to her father’s politics, or from Jim Crow America, she might have thought twice about this system. However, existence had shielded her.

Background and Inexperience

“I hold a British passport,” she remarked, “and the officials never asked me about my ethnicity.” So, with her “light” appearance (as Jet put it), she floated within European circles, buoyed up by their praise for her late father. She delivered a lecture about her parent’s compositions at the Cape Town university and conducted the broadcasting ensemble in Johannesburg, programming the inspiring part of her Piano Concerto, titled: “In memory of my Father.” Even though a skilled pianist personally, she never played as the lead performer in her concerto. Rather, she consistently conducted as the maestro; and so the orchestra of the era played under her baton.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “might bring a shift”. Yet in the mid-1950s, things fell apart. Once officials became aware of her African heritage, she had to depart the country. Her British passport offered no defense, the British high commissioner recommended her departure or face arrest. She went back to the UK, feeling great shame as the scale of her inexperience was realized. “The realization was a hard one,” she lamented. Increasing her embarrassment was the printing that year of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her forced leaving from that nation.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these legacies, I felt a known narrative. The story of holding UK citizenship until you’re not – which recalls troops of color who served for the British during the World War II and survived only to be not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,