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Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually experienced the burden of her father’s legacy. As the daughter of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the best-known British composers of the 1900s, her name was shrouded in the long shadows of bygone eras.

A World Premiere

Earlier this year, I contemplated these shadows as I got ready to record the world premiere recording of Avril’s piano concerto from 1936. Boasting intense musical themes, expressive melodies, and bold rhythms, her composition will grant music lovers valuable perspective into how she – a composer during war who entered the world in 1903 – imagined her reality as a woman of colour.

Legacy and Reality

Yet about legacies. It requires time to adjust, to see shapes as they truly exist, to distinguish truth from misrepresentation, and I was reluctant to confront the composer’s background for a while.

I earnestly desired Avril to be following in her father’s footsteps. In some ways, she was. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be observed in many of her works, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to look at the headings of her parent’s works to realize how he viewed himself as not just a standard-bearer of English Romanticism and also a voice of the African heritage.

At this point Samuel and Avril appeared to part ways.

American society judged Samuel by the excellence of his art instead of the his ethnicity.

Parental Heritage

During his studies at the renowned institution, the composer – the son of a Sierra Leonean father and a white English mother – began embracing his heritage. Once the poet of color the renowned Dunbar came to London in 1897, the young musician was keen to meet him. He set the poet’s African Romances as a composition and the subsequent year incorporated his poetry for a stage piece, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral piece that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Drawing from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an international hit, especially with African Americans who felt shared pride as the majority assessed his work by the excellence of his compositions as opposed to the colour of his skin.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Fame did not reduce his beliefs. During that period, he was present at the First Pan African Conference in London where he made the acquaintance of the prominent scholar this influential figure and saw a variety of discussions, covering the mistreatment of the Black community there. He remained an advocate throughout his life. He sustained relationships with pioneers of civil rights including the scholar and the educator Washington, gave addresses on racial equality, and even engaged in dialogue on matters of race with the American leader on a trip to the presidential residence in 1904. Regarding his compositions, Du Bois recalled, “he established his reputation so notably as a musician that it will long be remembered.” He passed away in the early 20th century, aged 37. But what would Samuel have thought of his daughter’s decision to be in South Africa in the mid-20th century?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Daughter of Famous Composer shows support to S African Bias,” appeared as a heading in the African American magazine Jet magazine. This policy “appeared to me the appropriate course”, she informed 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 resolve itself, guided by benevolent people of every background”. If Avril had been more aligned to her family’s principles, or born in the US under segregation, she could have hesitated about the policy. However, existence had protected her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a UK passport,” she said, “and the authorities did not inquire me about my background.” So, with her “porcelain-white” skin (as described), she floated among the Europeans, lifted by their praise for her deceased parent. She delivered a lecture about her father’s music at the Cape Town university and conducted the broadcasting ensemble in the city, including the bold final section of her Piano Concerto, titled: “Dedicated to my Father.” Even though a skilled pianist on her own, she avoided playing as the featured artist in her piece. Instead, she invariably directed as the conductor; and so the apartheid orchestra played under her baton.

Avril hoped, in her own words, she “may foster a change”. But by 1954, the situation collapsed. After authorities discovered her mixed background, she had to depart the country. Her citizenship failed to safeguard her, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or be jailed. She came home, embarrassed as the magnitude of her naivety dawned. “The lesson was a difficult one,” she stated. Compounding her disgrace was the printing that year of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her forced leaving from South Africa.

A Common Narrative

Upon contemplating with these legacies, I felt a recurring theme. The story of holding UK citizenship until you’re not – one that calls to mind troops of color who fought on behalf of the English during the second world war and survived only to be not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,