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Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually experienced the weight of her parent’s reputation. Being the child of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous English artists of the early 20th century, the composer’s identity was shrouded in the long shadows of history.

The First Recording

In recent months, I reflected on these legacies as I prepared to record the world premiere recording of her concerto for piano composed in 1936. Boasting impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and bold rhythms, Avril’s work will grant audiences fascinating insight into how this artist – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – envisioned her existence as a female composer of color.

Shadows and Truth

Yet about shadows. One needs patience to acclimate, to recognize outlines as they actually appear, to tell reality from misinterpretation, and I was reluctant to address Avril’s past for a period.

I deeply hoped her to be her father’s daughter. In some ways, that held. The rustic British sounds of parental inspiration can be heard in numerous compositions, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to examine the headings of her parent’s works to understand how he identified as both a standard-bearer of English Romanticism and also a advocate of the African diaspora.

At this point Samuel and Avril began to differ.

White America assessed the composer by the brilliance of his compositions instead of the colour of his skin.

Family Background

During his studies at the renowned institution, the composer – the offspring of a parent from Sierra Leone and a white English mother – turned toward his background. At the time the Black American writer this literary figure came to London in the late 19th century, the aspiring artist eagerly sought him out. He composed Dunbar’s African Romances as a composition and the following year incorporated his poetry for an opera, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral piece that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, especially with the Black community who felt vicarious pride as American society assessed his work by the quality of his music rather than the colour of his skin.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not reduce his beliefs. At the turn of the century, he participated in the initial Pan African gathering in London where he encountered the African American intellectual the renowned Du Bois and witnessed a series of speeches, such as the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He remained an advocate to his final days. He maintained ties with pioneers of civil rights such as the scholar and Booker T Washington, spoke publicly on racial equality, and even engaged in dialogue on matters of race with the American leader on a trip to the White House in the early 1900s. As for his music, reminisced Du Bois, “he wrote his name so prominently as a creative artist that it will long be remembered.” He died in that year, at 37 years old. However, how would her father have reacted to his daughter’s decision to travel to this country in the that decade?

Conflict and Policy

“Daughter of Famous Composer expresses approval to S African Bias,” ran a headline in the community journal Jet magazine. This policy “struck me as the right policy”, the composer stated Jet. When asked to explain, she backtracked: she did not support with apartheid “as a concept” and it “ought to be permitted to run its course, guided by benevolent residents of all races”. If Avril had been more in tune to her family’s principles, or raised in Jim Crow America, she could have hesitated about this system. But life had shielded her.

Identity and Naivety

“I have a English document,” she remarked, “and the officials failed to question me about my ethnicity.” Thus, with her “fair” appearance (as described), she moved alongside white society, buoyed up by their praise for her renowned family member. She gave a talk about her family’s work at the educational institution and led the broadcasting ensemble in that location, featuring the heroic third movement of her composition, named: “In remembrance of my Father.” While a skilled pianist personally, she never played as the soloist in her work. Instead, she always led as the leader; and so the orchestra of the era followed her lead.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “might bring a change”. Yet in the mid-1950s, things fell apart. After authorities learned of her African heritage, she had to depart the country. Her UK document didn’t protect her, the UK representative urged her to go or face arrest. She went back to the UK, feeling great shame as the magnitude of her innocence was realized. “The lesson was a painful one,” she expressed. Compounding her embarrassment was the release in 1955 of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from the country.

A Familiar Story

While I reflected with these legacies, I felt a known narrative. The account of holding UK citizenship until it’s challenged – one that calls to mind troops of color who defended the British in the second world war and made it through but were not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,