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The composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor always experienced the weight of her parent’s reputation. As the daughter of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a leading the most famous English musicians of the early 20th century, Avril’s name was cloaked in the lingering obscurity of history.

An Inaugural Recording

Not long ago, I contemplated these shadows as I prepared to record the first-ever recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. Boasting impassioned harmonies, expressive melodies, and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will grant new listeners deep understanding into how this artist – a composer during war who entered the world in 1903 – imagined her existence as a artist with mixed heritage.

Past and Present

However about legacies. One needs patience to adjust, to recognize outlines as they truly exist, to distinguish truth from misinterpretation, and I had been afraid to address the composer’s background for a while.

I had so wanted the composer to be following in her father’s footsteps. To some extent, that held. The idyllic English tones of Samuel’s influence can be observed in numerous compositions, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to review the titles of her parent’s works to see how he heard himself as not only a champion of UK romantic tradition and also a representative of the African diaspora.

This was where Samuel and Avril appeared to part ways.

White America assessed the composer by the brilliance of his compositions as opposed to the his ethnicity.

Parental Heritage

While he was studying at the prestigious music college, the composer – the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a British mother – started to lean into his background. At the time the African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar visited the UK in that era, the aspiring artist was keen to meet him. He set Dunbar’s African Romances as a composition and the following year incorporated his poetry for an opera, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral work that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an worldwide sensation, especially with the Black community who felt shared pride as American society evaluated the composer by the excellence of his music instead of the his race.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not reduce his beliefs. In 1900, he was present at the pioneering African conference in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the Black American thinker this influential figure and observed a variety of discussions, including on the oppression of the Black community there. He was a campaigner until the end. He sustained relationships with trailblazers for equality including Du Bois and Booker T Washington, spoke publicly on racial equality, and even discussed racial problems with the US President on a trip to the US capital in that year. As for his music, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so notably as a creative artist that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He succumbed in 1912, aged 37. Yet how might her father have thought of his daughter’s decision to work in South Africa in the 1950s?

Conflict and Policy

“Child of Celebrated Artist gives OK to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the community journal Jet magazine. This policy “struck me as the right policy”, the composer stated Jet. Upon further questioning, she qualified her remarks: she did not support with the system “in principle” and it “should be allowed to run its course, guided by well-meaning residents of every background”. Were the composer more aligned to her father’s politics, or raised in the US under segregation, she might have thought twice about the policy. However, existence had sheltered her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a UK passport,” she said, “and the authorities failed to question me about my background.” So, with her “fair” complexion (as described), she moved within European circles, lifted by their admiration for her late father. She delivered a lecture about her family’s work at the Cape Town university and conducted the national orchestra in that location, programming the inspiring part of her composition, subtitled: “In memory of my Father.” Even though a accomplished player on her own, she did not perform as the soloist in her work. Rather, she always led as the leader; and so the apartheid orchestra followed her lead.

Avril hoped, according to her, she “might bring a transformation”. But by 1954, things fell apart. Once officials discovered her Black ancestry, she had to depart the land. Her UK document failed to safeguard her, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or face arrest. She returned to England, deeply ashamed as the extent of her innocence dawned. “The lesson was a painful one,” she expressed. Increasing her embarrassment was the release in 1955 of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from the country.

A Common Narrative

Upon contemplating with these shadows, I perceived a recurring theme. The narrative of holding UK citizenship until you’re not – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who defended the British during the global conflict and made it through but were denied their due compensation. Including those from Windrush,