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This talented musician continually experienced the weight of her family reputation. As the daughter of the renowned Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, among the best-known English artists of the turn of the 20th century, the composer’s name was enveloped in the lingering obscurity of history.

A World Premiere

Earlier this year, I reflected on these shadows as I made arrangements to record the first-ever recording of the composer’s 1936 piano concerto. Boasting emotional harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and valiant rhythms, her composition will provide music lovers fascinating insight into how this artist – a composer during war born in 1903 – imagined her existence as a female composer of color.

Past and Present

But here’s the thing about shadows. It requires time to acclimate, to perceive forms as they actually appear, to distinguish truth from misrepresentation, and I had been afraid to face the composer’s background for a period.

I deeply hoped Avril to be her father’s daughter. To some extent, she was. 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 look at the titles of her father’s compositions to see how he identified as not only a flag bearer of English Romanticism but a representative of the African heritage.

This was where father and daughter seemed to diverge.

White America assessed the composer by the excellence of his compositions as opposed to the his racial background.

Samuel’s African Roots

While he was studying at the prestigious music college, Samuel – the son of a African father and a British mother – started to lean into his heritage. When the African American poet this literary figure visited the UK in that era, the 21-year-old composer eagerly sought him out. He set this literary work into music and the next year adapted his verses for a stage piece, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral composition that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, particularly among the Black community who felt indirect honor as American society judged Samuel by the excellence of his compositions instead of the his background.

Principles and Actions

Success failed to diminish Samuel’s politics. At the turn of the century, he attended the First Pan African Conference in London where he encountered the African American intellectual WEB Du Bois and saw a series of speeches, such as the mistreatment of the Black community there. He was a campaigner until the end. He sustained relationships with pioneers of civil rights like this intellectual and the educator Washington, spoke publicly on ending discrimination, and even talked about matters of race with the US President while visiting to the presidential residence in that year. In terms of his art, the scholar reflected, “he established his reputation so prominently as a composer that it will endure.” He passed away in the early 20th century, in his thirties. But what would her father have thought of his daughter’s decision to be in the African nation in the mid-20th century?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist shows support to South African policy,” appeared as a heading in the African American magazine Jet magazine. Apartheid “seems to me the right policy”, Avril told Jet. When asked to explain, she qualified her remarks: she was not in favor with apartheid “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to work itself out, directed by well-meaning South Africans of all races”. Had Avril been more in tune to her family’s principles, or raised in Jim Crow America, she could have hesitated about apartheid. However, existence had protected her.

Identity and Naivety

“I have a English document,” she stated, “and the authorities failed to question me about my background.” Thus, with her “light” complexion (according to the magazine), she traveled within European circles, lifted by their acclaim for her renowned family member. She delivered a lecture about her parent’s compositions at the University of Cape Town and led the South African Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra in Johannesburg, featuring the heroic third movement of her Piano Concerto, named: “In memory of my Father.” While a confident pianist on her own, she never played as the lead performer in her work. Instead, she invariably directed as the maestro; and so the orchestra of the era performed under her direction.

The composer aspired, according to her, she “could introduce a change”. However, by that year, things fell apart. After authorities learned of her African heritage, she had to depart the nation. Her British passport didn’t protect her, the diplomatic official recommended her departure or face arrest. She went back to the UK, deeply ashamed as the magnitude of her innocence was realized. “The realization was a difficult one,” she expressed. Adding to her humiliation was the printing that year of her ill-fated Jet interview, a year after her forced leaving from the country.

A Common Narrative

While I reflected with these legacies, I sensed a recurring theme. The narrative of being British until it’s challenged – that brings to mind African-descended soldiers who defended the UK throughout the World War II and lived only to be not given their earned rewards. And the Windrush generation,