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Avril Coleridge-Taylor continually experienced the pressure of her family legacy. As the offspring of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a leading the most famous English composers of the early 20th century, Avril’s identity was cloaked in the deep shadows of history.

A World Premiere

Earlier this year, I sat with these shadows as I made arrangements to record the first-ever recording of the composer’s piano concerto from 1936. Boasting impassioned harmonies, expressive melodies, and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will offer audiences valuable perspective into how she – an artist in conflict originating from the early 1900s – conceived of her world as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

However about shadows. It can take a while to adapt, to see shapes as they actually appear, to distinguish truth from misinterpretation, and I had been afraid to face Avril’s past for a period.

I deeply hoped the composer to be a reflection of her father. In some ways, that held. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be heard in numerous compositions, such as From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only review the titles of her family’s music to see how he viewed himself as not just a champion of English Romanticism but a representative of the African heritage.

This was where parent and child seemed to diverge.

American society judged Samuel by the brilliance of his compositions as opposed to the colour of his skin.

Samuel’s African Roots

As a student at the renowned institution, Samuel – the son of a parent from Sierra Leone and a white English mother – turned toward his heritage. At the time the African American poet the renowned Dunbar arrived in England in the late 19th century, the young musician eagerly sought him out. He adapted this literary work to music and the following year incorporated his poetry for a stage piece, 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, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an worldwide sensation, notably for the Black community who felt vicarious pride as American society assessed his work by the quality of his art instead of the his race.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Success did not temper his beliefs. In 1900, he attended the First Pan African Conference in England where he encountered the prominent scholar this influential figure and observed a variety of discussions, covering the oppression of African people in South Africa. He remained an advocate to his final days. He maintained ties with pioneers of civil rights such as Du Bois and the educator Washington, gave addresses on ending discrimination, and even talked about matters of race with President Theodore Roosevelt during an invitation to the White House in 1904. As for his music, Du Bois recalled, “he wrote his name so prominently as a musician that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He passed away in the early 20th century, aged 37. However, how would her father have made of his child’s choice to travel to this country in the 1950s?

Issues and Stance

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” declared a title in the African American magazine Jet magazine. This policy “seems to me the right policy”, the composer stated Jet. Upon further questioning, she revised her statement: she didn’t agree with the system “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to work itself out, guided by benevolent people of every background”. Were the composer more aligned to her father’s politics, or from Jim Crow America, she may have reconsidered about apartheid. But life had shielded her.

Identity and Naivety

“I have a British passport,” she stated, “and the officials failed to question me about my background.” Thus, with her “fair” appearance (according to the magazine), she floated alongside white society, buoyed up by their acclaim for her late father. She presented about her family’s work at the educational institution and led the broadcasting ensemble in the city, featuring the inspiring part of her concerto, titled: “In memory of my Father.” Even though a confident pianist personally, she did not perform as the lead performer in her concerto. Instead, she consistently conducted as the maestro; and so the segregated ensemble followed her lead.

The composer aspired, in her own words, she “might bring a transformation”. Yet in the mid-1950s, the situation collapsed. Once officials became aware of her Black ancestry, she had to depart the country. Her UK document didn’t protect her, the British high commissioner urged her to go or risk imprisonment. She returned to England, embarrassed as the scale of her innocence was realized. “This experience was a hard one,” she expressed. Increasing her humiliation was the printing that year of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from South Africa.

A Common Narrative

As I sat with these memories, I felt a known narrative. The story of holding UK citizenship until it’s challenged – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who fought on behalf of the English throughout the World War II and lived only to be denied their due compensation. And the Windrush generation,