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Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly felt the weight of her father’s reputation. As the offspring of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the prominent UK musicians of the early 20th century, Avril’s name was enveloped in the lingering obscurity of the past.

The First Recording

Earlier this year, I contemplated these shadows as I got ready to produce the world premiere recording of Avril’s piano concerto from 1936. Featuring intense musical themes, soulful lyricism, and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will grant new listeners deep understanding into how this artist – an artist in conflict born in 1903 – imagined her reality as a artist with mixed heritage.

Shadows and Truth

Yet about legacies. It can take a while to adjust, to see shapes as they truly exist, to separate fact from misrepresentation, and I was reluctant to address her history for some time.

I had so wanted her to be following in her father’s footsteps. Partially, she was. The pastoral English palettes of parental inspiration can be heard in numerous compositions, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). But you only have to examine the titles of her father’s compositions to see how he viewed himself as both a flag bearer of English Romanticism and also a advocate of the African diaspora.

It was here that parent and child appeared to part ways.

White America evaluated Samuel by the brilliance of his art instead of the colour of his skin.

Samuel’s African Roots

While he was studying at the renowned institution, Samuel – the child of a parent from Sierra Leone and a Caucasian parent – started to lean into his African roots. At the time the poet of color this literary figure visited the UK in that era, the aspiring artist was keen to meet him. He set this literary work 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.

Based on this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an global success, particularly among the Black community who felt indirect honor as American society assessed his work by the quality of his art instead of the his background.

Activism and Politics

Success did not temper his beliefs. At the turn of the century, he participated in the pioneering African conference in London where he encountered the prominent scholar WEB Du Bois and witnessed a series of speeches, covering the oppression of the Black community there. He was an activist throughout his life. He sustained relationships with early civil rights leaders including this intellectual and Booker T Washington, gave addresses on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on matters of race with President Theodore Roosevelt during an invitation to the presidential residence in 1904. Regarding his compositions, the scholar reflected, “he wrote his name so notably as a creative artist that it will long be remembered.” He died in the early 20th century, in his thirties. However, how would the composer have thought of his child’s choice to work in South Africa in the that decade?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist shows support to S African Bias,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. Apartheid “appeared to me the right policy”, she informed Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she didn’t agree with apartheid “in principle” and it “could be left to resolve itself, directed by well-meaning South Africans of every background”. Were the composer more attuned to her parent’s beliefs, or raised in the US under segregation, she could have hesitated about the policy. However, existence had shielded her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a British passport,” she said, “and the government agents never asked me about my background.” Thus, with her “light” skin (according to the magazine), she traveled among the Europeans, lifted by their praise for her deceased parent. She presented about her father’s music at the educational institution and directed the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in Johannesburg, including the bold final section of her Piano Concerto, titled: “In remembrance of my Father.” While a skilled pianist personally, she never played as the lead performer in her concerto. On the contrary, she always led as the leader; and so the apartheid orchestra played under her baton.

Avril hoped, as she stated, she “could introduce a shift”. Yet in the mid-1950s, circumstances deteriorated. Once officials discovered her African heritage, she had to depart the land. Her citizenship failed to safeguard her, the British high commissioner recommended her departure or risk imprisonment. She came home, deeply ashamed as the extent of her innocence became clear. “This experience was a hard one,” she stated. Increasing her humiliation was the printing that year of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her unceremonious exit from South Africa.

A Familiar Story

As I sat with these legacies, I perceived a familiar story. The account of holding UK citizenship until it’s revoked – which recalls troops of color who defended the English in the second world war and lived only to be not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,