Out of Obscurity: Why Avril Coleridge-Taylor Deserves to Be Heard

Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually experienced the burden of her family heritage. As the offspring of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the prominent UK composers of the early 20th century, her reputation was enveloped in the lingering obscurity of bygone eras.

The First Recording

Earlier this year, I reflected on these legacies as I prepared to record the world premiere recording of her piano concerto from 1936. With its impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, her composition will provide new listeners valuable perspective into how the composer – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – conceived of her existence as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

Yet about legacies. It requires time to acclimate, to perceive forms as they truly exist, to distinguish truth from misinterpretation, and I had been afraid to address Avril’s past for some time.

I deeply hoped the composer to be a reflection of her father. Partially, that held. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be detected in several pieces, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to review the headings of her family’s music to understand how he viewed himself as both a flag bearer of UK romantic tradition but a representative of the Black diaspora.

This was where father and daughter began to differ.

American society judged Samuel by the excellence of his compositions instead of the colour of his skin.

Parental Heritage

During his studies at the Royal College of Music, the composer – the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a Caucasian parent – turned toward his African roots. At the time the African American poet the renowned Dunbar visited the UK in that era, the aspiring artist eagerly sought him out. He composed the poet’s African Romances to music and the following year incorporated his poetry for a musical work, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral composition that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an international hit, particularly among Black Americans who felt shared pride as the majority judged Samuel by the quality of his music as opposed to the his background.

Principles and Actions

Recognition did not temper his beliefs. In 1900, he was present at the pioneering African conference in the UK where he encountered the Black American thinker this influential figure and saw a range of talks, covering the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He was an activist to his final days. He maintained ties with pioneers of civil rights including the scholar and Booker T Washington, spoke publicly on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on racial problems with the US President on a trip to the White House in 1904. In terms of his art, reminisced Du Bois, “he made his mark so notably as a musician that it will endure.” He succumbed in that year, aged 37. Yet how might her father have thought of his offspring’s move to be in this country in the 1950s?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Daughter of Famous Composer expresses approval to apartheid system,” declared a title in the Black American publication Jet magazine. This policy “appeared to me the appropriate course”, Avril told Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she was not in favor with apartheid “in principle” and it “should be allowed to resolve itself, guided by good-intentioned people of every background”. Had Avril been more attuned to her parent’s beliefs, or from segregated America, she could have hesitated about this system. Yet her life had shielded her.

Heritage and Innocence

“I have a UK passport,” she said, “and the government agents did not inquire me about my ethnicity.” So, with her “fair” appearance (according to the magazine), she moved alongside white society, lifted by their praise for her late father. She delivered a lecture about her parent’s compositions at the educational institution and directed the broadcasting ensemble in that location, including the bold final section of her concerto, subtitled: “In remembrance of my Father.” Although 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 performed under her direction.

She desired, according to her, she “may foster a transformation”. However, by that year, things fell apart. After authorities became aware of her mixed background, she could no longer stay the nation. Her British passport failed to safeguard her, the British high commissioner urged her to go or be jailed. She went back to the UK, embarrassed as the extent of her innocence dawned. “The realization was a painful one,” she lamented. Compounding her embarrassment was the printing that year of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her sudden departure from the country.

A Familiar Story

As I sat with these memories, I felt a recurring theme. The story of identifying as British until it’s challenged – which recalls Black soldiers who served for the British in the World War II and made it through but were denied their due compensation. And the Windrush generation,