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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor always bore the pressure of her parent’s reputation. Being the child of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a leading the prominent British musicians of the 1900s, her reputation was shrouded in the deep shadows of history.

An Inaugural Recording

Not long ago, I reflected on these shadows as I made arrangements to make the first-ever recording of Avril’s 1936 piano concerto. Boasting intense musical themes, expressive melodies, and bold rhythms, this piece will provide new listeners fascinating insight into how she – a wartime composer originating from the early 1900s – envisioned her existence as a artist with mixed heritage.

Shadows and Truth

However about the past. It requires time to adjust, to perceive forms as they really are, to distinguish truth from misrepresentation, and I felt hesitant to address her history for a while.

I had so wanted Avril to be a reflection of her father. Partially, she was. The rustic British sounds of her father’s impact can be detected in many of her works, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to look at the titles of her family’s music to see how he heard himself as both a standard-bearer of UK romantic tradition and also a representative of the African heritage.

This was where parent and child seemed to diverge.

American society assessed the composer by the mastery of his art rather than the his racial background.

Samuel’s African Roots

While he was studying at the prestigious music college, her father – the child of a parent from Sierra Leone and a white English mother – started to lean into his background. At the time the Black American writer the renowned Dunbar visited the UK in that era, the young musician eagerly sought him out. He composed Dunbar’s African Romances into music and the next year incorporated his poetry for a musical work, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral work that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, notably for African Americans who felt shared pride as American society assessed his work by the quality of his art as opposed to the his background.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not temper his beliefs. In 1900, he attended the pioneering African conference in the UK where he met the prominent scholar the renowned Du Bois and observed a range of talks, covering the oppression of the Black community there. He remained an advocate until the end. He maintained ties with pioneers of civil rights including Du Bois and this leader, gave addresses on equality for all, and even discussed racial problems with President Theodore Roosevelt during an invitation to the White House in that year. As for his music, reminisced Du Bois, “he wrote his name so prominently as a composer that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He passed away in the early 20th century, in his thirties. However, how would the composer have made of his child’s choice to be in South Africa in the 1950s?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Daughter of Famous Composer expresses approval to apartheid system,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. Apartheid “struck me as the appropriate course”, Avril told Jet. When asked to explain, she qualified her remarks: she was not in favor with the system “in principle” and it “ought to be permitted to work itself out, overseen by benevolent South Africans of all races”. Were the composer more in tune to her family’s principles, or born in Jim Crow America, she might have thought twice about this system. However, existence had protected her.

Heritage and Innocence

“I possess a English document,” she said, “and the government agents never asked me about my race.” Therefore, with her “fair” complexion (as described), she floated within European circles, lifted by their praise for her late father. She presented about her family’s work at the Cape Town university and directed the broadcasting ensemble in the city, including the bold final section of her composition, titled: “In memory of my Father.” While a confident pianist personally, she avoided playing as the featured artist in her piece. Rather, she always led as the maestro; and so the segregated ensemble followed her lead.

She desired, in her own words, she “could introduce a transformation”. However, by that year, the situation collapsed. After authorities became aware of her mixed background, she was forced to leave the country. Her British passport failed to safeguard her, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or risk imprisonment. She returned to England, deeply ashamed as the extent of her inexperience became clear. “The lesson was a difficult one,” she stated. Adding to her disgrace was the release in 1955 of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her forced leaving from the country.

A Familiar Story

As I sat with these memories, I perceived a familiar story. The account of holding UK citizenship until it’s challenged – one that calls to mind Black soldiers who defended the British in the World War II and survived only to be not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,