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This talented musician always experienced the weight of her parent’s legacy. As the daughter of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous English composers of the early 20th century, the composer’s identity was shrouded in the lingering obscurity of the past.

The First Recording

In recent months, I reflected on these legacies as I got ready to produce the first-ever recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. Boasting impassioned harmonies, soulful lyricism, and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will grant audiences valuable perspective into how this artist – a composer during war originating from the early 1900s – envisioned her existence as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

But here’s the thing about shadows. It requires time to adjust, to see shapes as they actually appear, to tell reality from distortion, and I had been afraid to confront her history for a period.

I earnestly desired the composer to be her father’s daughter. To some extent, this was true. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be detected in numerous compositions, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). Yet it suffices to examine the names of her family’s music to understand how he identified as not only a champion of British Romantic style but a representative of the Black diaspora.

At this point parent and child began to differ.

White America assessed the composer by the brilliance of his music rather than the colour of his skin.

Family Background

During his studies at the prestigious music college, the composer – the son of a parent from Sierra Leone and a Caucasian parent – turned toward his African roots. At the time the African American poet this literary figure came to London in that era, the 21-year-old composer was keen to meet him. He adapted the poet’s African Romances into music and the next year incorporated his poetry for a musical work, Dream Lovers. Subsequently arrived the choral composition that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by the poet Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, especially with the Black community who felt vicarious pride as white America assessed his work by the brilliance of his art as opposed to the his race.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Recognition did not temper his activism. At the turn of the century, he was present at the pioneering African conference in London where he encountered the African American intellectual the renowned Du Bois and observed a variety of discussions, covering the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He was an activist until the end. He maintained ties with trailblazers for equality including Du Bois and this leader, delivered his own speeches on equality for all, and even engaged in dialogue on issues of racism with the American leader while visiting to the presidential residence in the early 1900s. As for his music, reminisced Du Bois, “he wrote his name so high as a creative artist that it will endure.” He passed away in 1912, aged 37. But what would Samuel have reacted to his offspring’s move to travel to South Africa in the mid-20th century?

Conflict and Policy

“Child of Celebrated Artist gives OK to South African policy,” appeared as a heading in the Black American publication Jet magazine. This policy “struck me as the correct approach”, she informed Jet. When asked to explain, she backtracked: she didn’t agree with this policy “as a concept” and it “could be left to resolve itself, overseen by benevolent residents of diverse ethnicities”. If Avril had been more aligned to her family’s principles, or raised in Jim Crow America, she may have reconsidered about the policy. Yet her life had protected her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a British passport,” she remarked, “and the authorities did not inquire me about my background.” So, with her “light” appearance (as described), she floated among the Europeans, lifted by their praise for her renowned family member. She delivered a lecture about her family’s work at the University of Cape Town and conducted the broadcasting ensemble in the city, featuring the bold final section of her concerto, named: “Dedicated to my Father.” Even though a skilled pianist herself, she never played as the featured artist in her piece. Instead, she consistently conducted as the maestro; and so the orchestra of the era performed under her direction.

The composer aspired, according to her, she “might bring a transformation”. But by 1954, the situation collapsed. When government agents discovered her African heritage, she could no longer stay the nation. Her citizenship offered no defense, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or risk imprisonment. She returned to England, feeling great shame as the scale of her inexperience dawned. “This experience was a painful one,” she stated. Increasing her disgrace was the printing that year of her controversial discussion, a year after her unceremonious exit from South Africa.

A Common Narrative

As I sat with these shadows, I perceived a known narrative. The narrative of being British until you’re not – which recalls African-descended soldiers who served for the British throughout the World War II and survived only to be refused rightful benefits. Along with the Windrush era,