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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly bore the burden of her family reputation. As the daughter of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the most famous British composers of the 1900s, her identity was cloaked in the long shadows of bygone eras.

A World Premiere

Earlier this year, I reflected on these legacies as I prepared to produce the world premiere recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. Featuring impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and bold rhythms, her composition will grant music lovers valuable perspective into how the composer – an artist in conflict born in 1903 – conceived of her world as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

Yet about legacies. One needs patience to adapt, to perceive forms as they truly exist, to distinguish truth from misrepresentation, and I was reluctant to face her history for some time.

I had so wanted the composer to be her father’s daughter. In some ways, this was true. The pastoral English palettes of parental inspiration can be observed in several pieces, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only examine the titles of her family’s music to see how he heard himself as not only a standard-bearer of UK romantic tradition and also a advocate of the Black diaspora.

This was where father and daughter seemed to diverge.

White America evaluated Samuel by the excellence of his art as opposed to the his racial background.

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 heritage. Once the Black American writer the renowned Dunbar arrived in England in the late 19th century, the 21-year-old composer actively pursued him. He adapted this literary work into music and the following year incorporated his poetry for an opera, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral piece that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from the poet Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an worldwide sensation, notably for African Americans who felt vicarious pride as the majority judged Samuel by the quality of his compositions instead of the colour of his skin.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not temper Samuel’s politics. In 1900, he attended the pioneering African conference in England where he made the acquaintance of the prominent scholar this influential figure and observed a series of speeches, including on the subjugation of Black South Africans. He was a campaigner until the end. He sustained relationships with pioneers of civil rights like the scholar and this leader, delivered his own speeches on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on issues of racism with President Theodore Roosevelt on a trip to the US capital in the early 1900s. As for his music, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so prominently as a musician that it will long be remembered.” He passed away in 1912, in his thirties. Yet how might Samuel have thought of his offspring’s move to be in South Africa in the mid-20th century?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Offspring of Renowned Musician shows support to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the Black American publication Jet magazine. This policy “appeared to me the appropriate course”, she informed Jet. When asked to explain, she revised her statement: she did not support with this policy “fundamentally” and it “could be left to work itself out, overseen by well-meaning people of every background”. Had Avril been more attuned to her father’s politics, or born in the US under segregation, she could have hesitated about this system. But life had shielded her.

Heritage and Innocence

“I hold a English document,” she said, “and the authorities failed to question me about my race.” Thus, with her “light” skin (as Jet put it), she traveled within European circles, buoyed up by their acclaim for her late father. She presented about her parent’s compositions at the University of Cape Town and directed the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in Johannesburg, featuring the inspiring part of her Piano Concerto, subtitled: “Dedicated to my Father.” While a confident pianist herself, she never played as the soloist in her piece. Instead, she always led as the conductor; and so the apartheid orchestra performed under her direction.

The composer aspired, as she stated, she “may foster a shift”. However, by that year, circumstances deteriorated. When government agents discovered her African heritage, she had to depart the nation. Her British passport didn’t protect her, the British high commissioner advised her to leave or face arrest. She returned to England, embarrassed as the magnitude of her innocence became clear. “The realization was a difficult one,” she lamented. Adding to her embarrassment was the printing that year of her controversial discussion, a year after her unceremonious exit from that nation.

A Common Narrative

Upon contemplating with these memories, I sensed a known narrative. The story of being British until you’re not – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who defended the UK during the global conflict and lived only to be refused rightful benefits. Along with the Windrush era,