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Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly experienced the pressure of her father’s heritage. As the offspring of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous UK artists of the turn of the 20th century, her reputation was shrouded in the long shadows of history.

The First Recording

Earlier this year, I sat with these memories as I prepared to make the world premiere recording of her concerto for piano composed in 1936. Boasting emotional harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and confident beats, Avril’s work will offer new listeners fascinating insight into how the composer – a wartime composer born in 1903 – imagined her world as a woman of colour.

Shadows and Truth

But here’s the thing about shadows. One needs patience to acclimate, to perceive forms as they truly exist, to separate fact from misrepresentation, and I had been afraid to face the composer’s background for a while.

I earnestly desired Avril to be a reflection of her father. To some extent, this was true. The idyllic English tones of Samuel’s influence can be observed in numerous compositions, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only look at the names of her parent’s works to understand how he viewed himself as both a champion of UK romantic tradition as well as a representative of the Black diaspora.

This was where Samuel and Avril began to differ.

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

Parental Heritage

While he was studying at the Royal College of Music, the composer – the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a British mother – started to lean into his African roots. At the time the Black American writer this literary figure visited the UK in 1897, the aspiring artist was keen to meet him. He composed this literary work into music and the next year adapted his verses for an opera, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral composition that put Samuel on the map: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by the poet Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, this composition was an international hit, particularly among Black Americans who felt indirect honor as the majority assessed his work by the excellence of his art rather than the his race.

Advocacy and Beliefs

Fame did not reduce his activism. During that period, he attended the pioneering African conference in the UK where he met the African American intellectual the renowned Du Bois and observed a series of speeches, covering the subjugation of Black South Africans. He remained an advocate to his final days. He maintained ties with trailblazers for equality such as the scholar and Booker T Washington, gave addresses on racial equality, and even discussed racial problems with President Theodore Roosevelt on a trip to the White House in that year. In terms of his art, reminisced Du Bois, “he wrote his name so notably as a musician that it will endure.” He succumbed in that year, in his thirties. However, how would Samuel have made of his child’s choice to work in the African nation in the mid-20th century?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” appeared as a heading in the community journal Jet magazine. The system “seems to me the appropriate course”, she informed Jet. Upon further questioning, she revised her statement: she didn’t agree with this policy “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to resolve itself, directed by benevolent people of every background”. Had Avril been more attuned to her parent’s beliefs, or raised in segregated America, she could have hesitated about this system. However, existence had protected her.

Background and Inexperience

“I possess a English document,” she said, “and the officials failed to question me about my race.” Thus, with her “porcelain-white” appearance (as described), she floated within European circles, supported by their acclaim for her renowned family member. She gave a talk about her parent’s compositions at the educational institution and led the national orchestra in Johannesburg, featuring the inspiring part of her composition, subtitled: “In remembrance of my Father.” Even though a confident pianist on her own, she avoided playing as the lead performer in her concerto. Rather, she always led as the leader; and so the orchestra of the era performed under her direction.

The composer aspired, according to her, she “may foster a change”. But by 1954, the situation collapsed. When government agents learned of her mixed background, she had to depart the country. Her citizenship offered no defense, the diplomatic official advised her to leave or risk imprisonment. She came home, embarrassed as the magnitude of her naivety was realized. “The realization was a difficult one,” she stated. Compounding her embarrassment was the 1955 publication of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her sudden departure from South Africa.

A Common Narrative

As I sat with these shadows, I felt a familiar story. The narrative of holding UK citizenship until it’s challenged – that brings to mind troops of color who defended the UK during the global conflict and survived only to be refused rightful benefits. Along with the Windrush era,