Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Composer

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, not to be mistaken with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the writer, is today almost completely forgotten. However, he was, at the turn of the Century one of Britain's most outstanding Composers.

His parents were African and English and Samuel was born in Holborn on August 15 1875. He excelled at the violin but later changed his studies to composition. After he graduated he went on to teach music at Trinity College London and at the Rochester Choral Society.

At the age of 22 he achieved fame by composing his most famous work Hiawatha's wedding feast. This piece of music was described by the royal college of music as 'One of the most remarkable events in English musical history'. He was appointed a professor at the Crystal Palace School of Music and Art, he also conducted the Croydon conservatory orchestra and the Bournemouth symphony.

He was also actively involved in promoting the cause of black people worldwide. He frequently traveled to America where he held workshops for black musicians and composers. The Pan -Africanist Duse Mohammed was amongst his friends and together they founded The African and Orient Review, a Pan- Africanist newspaper in London. Today there has been a resurgence of interest in the works of this great and interesting man. He died in 1912 aged just 37.



BIRTH:
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was probably the illegitimate son of a Sierra Leonese doctor, Daniel (Peter Hughes) Taylor, & a distinctly mysterious Englishwoman, identified as Alice Taylor (nee Holmans) on Samuels birth certificate. The confusion over Samuel's mother's identity seems to have been deliberate, & designed to avoid the scar of illegitimacy in turn-of-the-century England. It is uncertain that the woman who raised Samuel (Alice Hare (Martin) was actually his mother although this seems to be the most likely alternative. It seems fairly clear that the composer never knew his father,as Doctor Taylor may well have returned to Africa before Samuel was born.

RACISM:
Racism was certainly present in turn-of-the-century England; but unlike now, it was more inclined to reveal itself in anti-Semitic or Catholic (particularly Irish Catholic) forms than in purely black & white terms. One thing should be acknowledged, though. Born & raised in suburban London, the young Samuel undoubtably received a different view of racism than he would have had he been brought up in the US (or England's African, Australian or Caribbean colonies, for that matter)... racism has always thrived best in a climate of fear; & while Samuel's skin color made him an obvious novelty in Victorian England, it wasn't generally going to paint him as the kind of social threat as being a Jew or a Catholic was thought to be in this Anglican-Christian society.That doesn't mean that Samuel's childhood was anything but difficult. His childhood nickname of "Coaley" was an obvious insult towards his name and skin colour.

"The Negro Problem in North America" shows that racial stupidity was not restricted to the US-Americans; & was (& is) regrettably universal. Samuel Coleridge-taylor's sharply witty response to this debate (published by the Croydon Guardian; 15 February 1912) is quoted in full by both Self & Tortolano)

ACCOLADES:
In 1900, Samuel was a delegate at the first Pan-African Conference in London. The young composer also read extensively on the African-American experience; & was predictably impressed by the biography of Frederick Douglass & the writings of Booker T Washington & W E B DuBois

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC:
Accepted by the RCM in 1890 originally as a violin student; & graduating to composition (with Stanford) in 1892. He left RCM in 1987.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - His Life & Letters - 1915; rev.1927.W C Berwick Sayers

A Memory Sketch of Personal Reminiscences of My Husband - Genius & Musician - the composer's widow, Jessie Coleridge-Taylor - 1943

The Hiawatha Man - The Life & Work of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Scolar Press -1995. Geoffrey Self

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Anglo-Black Composer, 1875-1912 -The Scarecrow Press - 1977. William Tortolano

The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Biographical sketch and study by(daughter) Avril Coleridge-Taylor (Dennis Dobson, 1979)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor album covers

The African Romances - an album of seven short songs published by Augener's



The Song Of Hiawatha - Symphonic Variations on an African Air



The Coleridge Ensemble



Ballade in A minor as possessing "barbaric gaiety"



Hiawatha's Wedding Feast



Hiawatha series -The Twenty-Four Negro Melodies & the Violin Concerto



Live A music - A tribute to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

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