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Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually bore the burden of her father’s heritage. Being the child of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous UK musicians of the early 20th century, Avril’s name was cloaked in the long shadows of history.

An Inaugural Recording

Earlier this year, I contemplated these shadows as I prepared to record the world premiere recording of Avril’s 1936 piano concerto. With its impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, her composition will offer music lovers valuable perspective into how the composer – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – imagined her existence as a artist with mixed heritage.

Legacy and Reality

But here’s the thing about shadows. It requires time to adapt, to perceive forms as they really are, to tell reality from misinterpretation, and I was reluctant to confront Avril’s past for a period.

I earnestly desired the composer to be a reflection of her father. In some ways, that held. The pastoral English palettes of Samuel’s influence can be detected in several pieces, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only look at the titles of her parent’s works to see how he viewed himself as not only a flag bearer of British Romantic style as well as a advocate of the African diaspora.

It was here that parent and child began to differ.

The United States judged Samuel by the brilliance of his art as opposed to the his racial background.

Family Background

As a student at the renowned institution, her father – the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a Caucasian parent – started to lean into his heritage. Once the Black American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar arrived in England in the late 19th century, the young musician eagerly sought him out. He composed the poet’s African Romances into music and the following 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.

Inspired by the poet Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an international hit, especially with African Americans who felt shared pride as the majority judged Samuel by the quality of his music rather than the his background.

Principles and Actions

Recognition did not temper his activism. At the turn of the century, he attended the pioneering African conference in England where he encountered the African American intellectual this influential figure and witnessed a series of speeches, such as the mistreatment of African people in South Africa. He remained an advocate throughout his life. He maintained ties with early civil rights leaders like the scholar and the educator Washington, delivered his own speeches on racial equality, and even talked about issues of racism with the US President during an invitation to the US capital in the early 1900s. Regarding his compositions, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so prominently as a composer that it will long be remembered.” He passed away in 1912, at 37 years old. But what would the composer have thought of his child’s choice to work in the African nation in the mid-20th century?

Issues and Stance

“Child of Celebrated Artist shows support to South African policy,” ran a headline in the African American magazine Jet magazine. Apartheid “seems to me the appropriate course”, she informed Jet. When asked to explain, she backtracked: she did not support with apartheid “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to resolve itself, directed by benevolent residents of diverse ethnicities”. If Avril had been more attuned to her parent’s beliefs, or born in segregated America, she could have hesitated about apartheid. Yet her life had shielded her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a English document,” she stated, “and the government agents never asked me about my ethnicity.” So, with her “fair” skin (as Jet put it), she moved alongside white society, buoyed up by their acclaim for her renowned family member. She gave a talk about her parent’s compositions at the Cape Town university and led the national orchestra in Johannesburg, including the bold final section of her composition, named: “In remembrance of my Father.” Even though a skilled pianist on her own, she did not perform as the soloist in her work. On the contrary, she invariably directed as the maestro; and so the segregated ensemble followed her lead.

The composer aspired, in her own words, she “may foster a transformation”. But by 1954, the situation collapsed. When government agents learned of her African heritage, she was forced to leave the country. Her citizenship offered no defense, the UK representative urged her to go or risk imprisonment. She returned to England, feeling great shame as the extent of her innocence dawned. “This experience was a difficult one,” she stated. Adding to her disgrace was the 1955 publication of her controversial discussion, a year after her forced leaving from the country.

A Common Narrative

While I reflected with these shadows, I felt a known narrative. The story of holding UK citizenship until you’re not – which recalls troops of color who defended the UK in the second world war and made it through but were denied their due compensation. Including those from Windrush,