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This talented musician constantly felt the burden of her father’s reputation. Being the child of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the best-known UK musicians of the 1900s, Avril’s identity was enveloped in the long shadows of bygone eras.

An Inaugural Recording

In recent months, I reflected on these shadows as I made arrangements to produce the first-ever recording of the composer’s concerto for piano composed in 1936. With its intense musical themes, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, this piece will grant new listeners valuable perspective into how this artist – a composer during war who entered the world in 1903 – imagined her world as a artist with mixed heritage.

Past and Present

But here’s the thing about the past. It requires time to acclimate, to recognize outlines as they actually appear, to tell reality from misinterpretation, and I was reluctant to address her history for a period.

I deeply hoped her to be a reflection of her father. To some extent, she was. The idyllic English tones of Samuel’s influence can be observed in many of her works, for example From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). But you only have to examine the titles of her father’s compositions to see how he viewed himself as not just a standard-bearer of UK romantic tradition and also a voice of the Black diaspora.

At this point parent and child seemed to diverge.

White America judged Samuel by the mastery of his compositions as opposed to the his ethnicity.

Family Background

During his studies at the Royal College of Music, her father – the son of a Sierra Leonean father and a white English mother – turned toward his background. At the time the Black American writer the renowned Dunbar visited the UK in that era, the aspiring artist actively pursued him. He composed Dunbar’s African Romances to music and the next year adapted his verses for an opera, Dream Lovers. This was followed by the choral piece that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an international hit, particularly among African Americans who felt indirect honor as American society evaluated the composer by the quality of his compositions rather than the colour of his skin.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Fame did not reduce Samuel’s politics. At the turn of the century, he attended the initial Pan African gathering in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the Black American thinker WEB Du Bois and witnessed a variety of discussions, including on the subjugation of African people in South Africa. He was a campaigner until the end. He sustained relationships with pioneers of civil rights including Du Bois and the educator Washington, gave addresses on equality for all, and even talked about issues of racism with the American leader on a trip to the presidential residence in that year. In terms of his art, Du Bois recalled, “he established his reputation so prominently as a creative artist that it will endure.” He passed away in the early 20th century, at 37 years old. However, how would the composer have made of his child’s choice to travel to South Africa in the 1950s?

Conflict and Policy

“Child of Celebrated Artist shows support to South African policy,” declared a title in the community journal Jet magazine. The system “seems to me the correct approach”, Avril told Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she did not support with this policy “in principle” and it “could be left to work itself out, guided by benevolent South Africans of diverse ethnicities”. Had Avril been more aligned to her father’s politics, or from segregated America, she could have hesitated about apartheid. However, existence had sheltered her.

Identity and Naivety

“I hold a English document,” she said, “and the government agents never asked me about my race.” So, with her “light” skin (as Jet put it), she traveled among the Europeans, supported by their acclaim for her late father. She gave a talk about her family’s work at the Cape Town university and directed the national orchestra in that location, programming the inspiring part of her concerto, subtitled: “Dedicated to my Father.” Even though a accomplished player on her own, she did not perform as the lead performer in her piece. Rather, she invariably directed as the conductor; and so the segregated ensemble followed her lead.

The composer aspired, in her own words, she “might bring a shift”. However, by that year, things fell apart. When government agents became aware of her mixed background, she had to depart the nation. Her British passport offered no defense, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or face arrest. She returned to England, deeply ashamed as the extent of her innocence dawned. “This experience was a painful one,” she lamented. Increasing her disgrace was the 1955 publication of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her forced leaving from South Africa.

A Common Narrative

Upon contemplating with these legacies, I sensed a familiar story. The story of identifying as British until you’re not – that brings to mind Black soldiers who fought on behalf of the UK during the second world war and lived only to be not given their earned rewards. Along with the Windrush era,