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Avril Coleridge-Taylor constantly bore the pressure of her family heritage. As the daughter of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the prominent English composers of the 1900s, Avril’s identity was shrouded in the deep shadows of history.

The First Recording

Earlier this year, 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 bold rhythms, her composition will grant new listeners valuable perspective into how she – a wartime composer born in 1903 – envisioned her world as a woman of colour.

Past and Present

However about the past. One needs patience to adapt, to recognize outlines as they truly exist, to tell reality from misinterpretation, and I felt hesitant to face Avril’s past for a period.

I earnestly desired the composer to be a reflection of her father. Partially, this was true. The pastoral English palettes of Samuel’s influence can be observed in many of her works, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only review the headings of her family’s music to realize how he identified as both a champion of English Romanticism and also a voice of the African diaspora.

At this point father and daughter began to differ.

American society evaluated Samuel by the mastery of his art instead of the his racial background.

Parental Heritage

As a student at the Royal College of Music, Samuel – the son of a parent from Sierra Leone and a British mother – started to lean into his background. At the time the Black American writer this literary figure came to London in 1897, the aspiring artist eagerly sought him out. He adapted Dunbar’s African Romances into music and the next year used the poet’s words for a musical work, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral piece that made him famous: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Based on this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, Samuel’s Hiawatha was an global success, particularly among the Black community who felt vicarious pride as American society evaluated the composer by the quality of his compositions rather than the his background.

Principles and Actions

Success did not temper his beliefs. In 1900, he was present at the pioneering African conference in the UK where he made the acquaintance of the Black American thinker WEB Du Bois and saw a series of speeches, such as the subjugation of the Black community there. He was a campaigner until the end. He kept connections with pioneers of civil rights such as the scholar and the educator Washington, delivered his own speeches on racial equality, and even talked about racial problems with the US President during an invitation to the presidential residence in that year. As for his music, reminisced Du Bois, “he made his mark so prominently as a musician that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He succumbed in 1912, aged 37. But what would the composer have reacted to his child’s choice to travel to the African nation in the that decade?

Controversy and Apartheid

“Child of Celebrated Artist gives OK to apartheid system,” declared a title in the African American magazine Jet magazine. The system “appeared to me the right policy”, the composer stated Jet. Upon further questioning, she qualified her remarks: she was not in favor with apartheid “as a concept” and it “should be allowed to run its course, directed by well-meaning residents of all races”. Had Avril been more attuned to her family’s principles, or from Jim Crow America, she might have thought twice about apartheid. However, existence had shielded her.

Background and Inexperience

“I have a British passport,” she said, “and the government agents did not inquire me about my background.” Therefore, with her “porcelain-white” appearance (as Jet put it), she traveled among the Europeans, lifted by their acclaim for her deceased parent. She gave a talk about her father’s music at the University of Cape Town and directed the broadcasting ensemble in Johannesburg, programming the heroic third movement of her Piano Concerto, titled: “Dedicated to my Father.” Even though a skilled pianist on her own, she never played as the lead performer in her piece. Rather, she consistently conducted as the maestro; and so the apartheid orchestra followed her lead.

Avril hoped, in her own words, she “might bring a transformation”. But by 1954, the situation collapsed. Once officials discovered her mixed background, she was forced to leave the nation. Her citizenship didn’t protect her, the UK representative recommended her departure or be jailed. She went back to the UK, deeply ashamed as the magnitude of her inexperience dawned. “This experience was a painful one,” she expressed. Compounding her embarrassment was the printing that year of her unfortunate magazine feature, a year after her sudden departure from the country.

A Familiar Story

As I sat with these shadows, I perceived a familiar story. The story of being British until it’s challenged – one that calls to mind Black soldiers who served for the English in the World War II and lived only to be not given their earned rewards. Including those from Windrush,