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This talented musician constantly experienced the pressure of her father’s legacy. As the daughter of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous UK composers of the early 20th century, her reputation was cloaked in the deep shadows of history.

The First Recording

Not long ago, I contemplated these memories as I got ready to produce the world premiere recording of her piano concerto from 1936. With its impassioned harmonies, soulful lyricism, and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will provide audiences valuable perspective into how the composer – an artist in conflict born in 1903 – conceived of her existence as a woman of colour.

Shadows and Truth

Yet about shadows. It can take a while to adjust, to recognize outlines as they truly exist, to separate fact from misrepresentation, and I had been afraid to address Avril’s past for a period.

I deeply hoped the composer to be a reflection of her father. Partially, she was. The pastoral English palettes of her father’s impact can be observed in several pieces, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only look at the headings of her family’s music to see how he identified as both a flag bearer of UK romantic tradition and also a voice of the African diaspora.

This was where father and daughter seemed to diverge.

American society assessed the composer by the brilliance of his compositions rather than the colour of his skin.

Parental Heritage

During his studies at the renowned institution, the composer – the offspring of a Sierra Leonean father and a white English mother – began embracing his background. When the African American poet the renowned Dunbar came to London in that era, the aspiring artist eagerly sought him out. He composed this literary work to music and the subsequent year used the poet’s words for a stage piece, Dream Lovers. Subsequently arrived the choral work 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, especially with the Black community who felt indirect honor as the majority judged Samuel by the excellence of his compositions instead of the his race.

Principles and Actions

Success did not reduce his activism. At the turn of the century, he participated in the First Pan African Conference in the UK where he encountered the African American intellectual this influential figure and witnessed a series of speeches, such as the mistreatment of Black South Africans. He was a campaigner throughout his life. He kept connections with trailblazers for equality including the scholar and Booker T Washington, spoke publicly on racial equality, and even engaged in dialogue on issues of racism with President Theodore Roosevelt on a trip to the presidential residence in 1904. As for his music, the scholar reflected, “he made his mark so prominently as a creative artist that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He died in the early 20th century, aged 37. Yet how might her father have made of his offspring’s move to work in this country in the mid-20th century?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Daughter of Famous Composer gives OK to apartheid system,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. This policy “appeared to me the right policy”, the composer stated Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she did not support with the system “in principle” and it “should be allowed to work itself out, overseen by good-intentioned residents of every background”. Were the composer more in tune to her father’s politics, or born in segregated America, she could have hesitated about apartheid. However, existence had sheltered her.

Heritage and Innocence

“I possess a British passport,” she stated, “and the authorities never asked me about my race.” So, with her “fair” complexion (as Jet put it), she floated within European circles, buoyed up by their acclaim for her deceased parent. She gave a talk about her father’s music at the Cape Town university and led the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in that location, featuring the inspiring part of her concerto, subtitled: “In memory of my Father.” While a skilled pianist herself, she did not perform as the featured artist in her concerto. Instead, she always led as the maestro; and so the apartheid orchestra played under her baton.

She desired, as she stated, she “may foster a change”. But by 1954, circumstances deteriorated. Once officials became aware of her Black ancestry, she had to depart the country. Her UK document didn’t protect her, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or face arrest. She went back to the UK, embarrassed as the scale of her naivety was realized. “The realization was a painful one,” she stated. Adding to her humiliation was the 1955 publication of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her sudden departure from the country.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these shadows, I sensed a known narrative. The narrative of identifying as British until it’s revoked – that brings to mind troops of color who fought on behalf of the UK during the global conflict and survived only to be refused rightful benefits. Along with the Windrush era,