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Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually felt the burden of her father’s heritage. As the daughter of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the best-known UK composers of the turn of the 20th century, her name was enveloped in the deep shadows of history.

The First Recording

Not long ago, I reflected on these memories as I prepared to record the first-ever recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. Featuring emotional harmonies, expressive melodies, and bold rhythms, this piece will offer new listeners deep understanding into how she – a composer during war who entered the world in 1903 – envisioned her reality as a woman of colour.

Past and Present

Yet about the past. It can take a while to adjust, to see shapes as they actually appear, to separate fact from distortion, and I had been afraid to face Avril’s past for a period.

I earnestly desired her to be a reflection of her father. To some extent, she was. The pastoral English palettes of Samuel’s influence can be observed in numerous compositions, such as From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only look at the names of her father’s compositions to understand how he viewed himself as not only a standard-bearer of English Romanticism but a voice of the Black diaspora.

At this point Samuel and Avril began to differ.

American society evaluated Samuel by the excellence of his art as opposed to the his racial background.

Parental Heritage

As a student at the prestigious music college, Samuel – the son of a African father and a Caucasian parent – turned toward his African roots. At the time the African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar came to London in that era, the 21-year-old composer actively pursued him. He set Dunbar’s African Romances as a composition and the next year adapted his verses for an opera, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral composition that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, notably for African Americans who felt indirect honor as white America judged Samuel by the brilliance of his art as opposed to the his race.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Fame did not reduce Samuel’s politics. During that period, he was present at the First Pan African Conference in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the African American intellectual this influential figure and saw a range of talks, including on the subjugation of Black South Africans. He was a campaigner to his final days. He kept connections with trailblazers for equality like the scholar and the educator Washington, gave addresses on racial equality, and even discussed racial problems with President Theodore Roosevelt while visiting to the presidential residence in the early 1900s. In terms of his art, Du Bois recalled, “he established his reputation so prominently as a musician that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He died in the early 20th century, in his thirties. But what would the composer have made of his child’s choice to travel to this country in the mid-20th century?

Conflict and Policy

“Daughter of Famous Composer shows support to S African Bias,” ran a headline in the Black American publication Jet magazine. The system “struck me as the correct approach”, the composer stated Jet. When pushed to clarify, she revised her statement: she did not support with the system “fundamentally” and it “ought to be permitted to run its course, guided by benevolent South Africans of all races”. Were the composer more in tune to her father’s politics, or born in Jim Crow America, she might have thought twice about this system. However, existence had shielded her.

Background and Inexperience

“I possess a British passport,” she said, “and the officials never asked me about my ethnicity.” Thus, with her “fair” appearance (as Jet put it), she floated alongside white society, buoyed up by their admiration for her renowned family member. She delivered a lecture about her family’s work at the Cape Town university and conducted the broadcasting ensemble in Johannesburg, including the heroic third movement of her Piano Concerto, subtitled: “In memory of my Father.” While a accomplished player on her own, she avoided playing as the lead performer in her piece. Instead, she consistently conducted as the conductor; and so the segregated ensemble performed under her direction.

She desired, as she stated, she “may foster a transformation”. But by 1954, circumstances deteriorated. Once officials learned of her African heritage, she could no longer stay the nation. Her UK document didn’t protect her, the UK representative urged her to go or face arrest. She returned to England, embarrassed as the scale of her innocence was realized. “This experience was a hard one,” she lamented. Adding to her embarrassment was the printing that year of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her sudden departure from that nation.

A Familiar Story

While I reflected with these legacies, I sensed a familiar story. The story of being British until it’s challenged – which recalls troops of color who fought on behalf of the British throughout the global conflict and lived only to be denied their due compensation. Along with the Windrush era,