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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor always felt the weight of her family legacy. As the daughter of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a leading the prominent British artists of the early 20th century, the composer’s name was shrouded in the long shadows of bygone eras.

A World Premiere

In recent months, I reflected on these shadows as I got ready to make the world premiere recording of the composer’s piano concerto from 1936. Featuring emotional harmonies, expressive melodies, and bold rhythms, her composition will provide new listeners fascinating insight into how this artist – a wartime composer born in 1903 – imagined her world as a artist with mixed heritage.

Shadows and Truth

However about legacies. It can take a while to adjust, to perceive forms as they truly exist, to distinguish truth from distortion, and I felt hesitant to address Avril’s past for some time.

I deeply hoped her to be a reflection of her father. In some ways, that held. The pastoral English palettes of Samuel’s influence can be observed in numerous compositions, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only look at the headings of her parent’s works to see how he identified as both a champion of British Romantic style as well as a voice of the African diaspora.

It was here that Samuel and Avril seemed to diverge.

The United States evaluated Samuel by the mastery of his music instead of the his ethnicity.

Family Background

During his studies at the Royal College of Music, the composer – the son of a Sierra Leonean father and a white English mother – began embracing his African roots. When the Black American writer this literary figure arrived in England in that era, the 21-year-old composer was keen to meet him. He set the poet’s African Romances into music and the subsequent year adapted his verses for a musical work, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral piece that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from the poet Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an worldwide sensation, especially with African Americans who felt shared pride as white America evaluated the composer by the brilliance of his music instead of the his background.

Activism and Politics

Recognition did not reduce Samuel’s politics. During that period, he participated in the First Pan African Conference in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the prominent scholar this influential figure and witnessed a range of talks, including on the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He was a campaigner until the end. He kept connections with pioneers of civil rights such as this intellectual and this leader, spoke publicly on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on racial problems with the US President during an invitation to the presidential residence in 1904. As for his music, the scholar reflected, “he made his mark so high as a musician that it will long be remembered.” He died in the early 20th century, aged 37. But what would Samuel have made of his daughter’s decision to work in the African nation in the 1950s?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the community journal Jet magazine. The system “appeared to me the right policy”, Avril told Jet. When asked to explain, she revised her statement: she was not in favor with apartheid “in principle” and it “should be allowed to run its course, overseen by good-intentioned people of every background”. Were the composer more in tune to her father’s politics, or raised in the US under segregation, she might have thought twice about apartheid. But life had shielded her.

Background and Inexperience

“I possess a UK passport,” she remarked, “and the authorities did not inquire me about my race.” Therefore, with her “light” skin (according to the magazine), she floated alongside white society, supported by their acclaim for her renowned family member. She presented about her family’s work at the University of Cape Town and directed the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in the city, including the heroic third movement of her Piano Concerto, subtitled: “Dedicated to my Father.” While a confident pianist on her own, she avoided playing as the soloist in her work. Instead, she always led as the maestro; and so the orchestra of the era played under her baton.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “could introduce a change”. However, by that year, things fell apart. After authorities discovered her mixed background, she was forced to leave the country. Her UK document offered no defense, the diplomatic official urged her to go or risk imprisonment. She came home, deeply ashamed as the extent of her naivety became clear. “This experience was a difficult one,” she expressed. Adding to her embarrassment was the printing that year of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from South Africa.

A Recurring Theme

Upon contemplating with these memories, I perceived a familiar story. The narrative of identifying as British until you’re not – one that calls to mind troops of color who served for the English in the second world war and survived only to be denied their due compensation. And the Windrush generation,