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This talented musician always bore the pressure of her father’s heritage. Being the child of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the prominent English musicians of the turn of the 20th century, the composer’s name was shrouded in the long shadows of history.

An Inaugural Recording

Not long ago, I reflected on these memories as I prepared to make the world premiere recording of her 1936 piano concerto. With its impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, this piece will offer new listeners fascinating insight into how she – a wartime composer who entered the world in 1903 – imagined her existence as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

However about shadows. It requires time to acclimate, to see shapes as they truly exist, to separate fact from distortion, and I was reluctant to address the composer’s background for some time.

I deeply hoped Avril to be her father’s daughter. In some ways, she was. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be detected in several pieces, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only examine the titles of her family’s music to understand how he identified as not just a flag bearer of British Romantic style and also a representative of the African heritage.

This was where Samuel and Avril appeared to part ways.

The United States judged Samuel by the mastery of his music as opposed to the his ethnicity.

Parental Heritage

As a student at the Royal College of Music, her father – the offspring of a parent from Sierra Leone and a British mother – turned toward his background. Once the poet of color the renowned Dunbar arrived in England in that era, the 21-year-old composer was keen to meet him. He composed Dunbar’s African Romances as a composition and the next year adapted his verses for an opera, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral work that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an international hit, notably for African Americans who felt indirect honor as American society judged Samuel by the brilliance of his art as opposed to the his race.

Activism and Politics

Recognition failed to diminish his beliefs. At the turn of the century, he attended the pioneering African conference in London where he encountered the African American intellectual this influential figure and saw a range of talks, such as the oppression of African people in South Africa. He was a campaigner until the end. He kept connections with trailblazers for equality like Du Bois and the educator Washington, spoke publicly on racial equality, and even talked about racial problems with the American leader on a trip to the presidential residence in that year. As for his music, reminisced Du Bois, “he made his mark so high as a musician that it will long be remembered.” He died in the early 20th century, aged 37. However, how would Samuel have reacted to his child’s choice to be in this country in the 1950s?

Conflict and Policy

“Offspring of Renowned Musician shows support to S African Bias,” ran a headline in the Black American publication Jet magazine. This policy “struck me as the appropriate course”, she informed Jet. When asked to explain, she backtracked: she did not support with the system “as a concept” and it “could be left to run its course, directed by well-meaning residents of all races”. If Avril had been more in tune to her family’s principles, or from Jim Crow America, she may have reconsidered about this system. Yet her life had protected her.

Heritage and Innocence

“I have a British passport,” she said, “and the government agents did not inquire me about my race.” So, with her “light” complexion (as described), she moved among the Europeans, buoyed up by their admiration for her deceased parent. She gave a talk about her father’s music at the educational institution and directed the broadcasting ensemble in Johannesburg, including the bold final section of her concerto, titled: “Dedicated to my Father.” While a confident pianist personally, she did not perform as the lead performer in her work. Rather, she consistently conducted as the maestro; and so the segregated ensemble performed under her direction.

She desired, in her own words, she “may foster a change”. But by 1954, circumstances deteriorated. When government agents discovered her Black ancestry, she had to depart the nation. Her citizenship offered no defense, the UK representative advised her to leave or face arrest. She returned to England, deeply ashamed as the magnitude of her inexperience was realized. “The lesson was a difficult one,” she expressed. Adding to her embarrassment was the release in 1955 of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from South Africa.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these legacies, I sensed a recurring theme. The story of identifying as British until it’s challenged – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who served for the British throughout the World War II and made it through but were refused rightful benefits. Including those from Windrush,