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This talented musician constantly bore the weight of her father’s legacy. As the offspring of the celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous UK composers of the turn of the 20th century, Avril’s identity was cloaked in the lingering obscurity of the past.

A World Premiere

In recent months, I sat with these legacies as I prepared to make the world premiere recording of the composer’s 1936 piano concerto. Boasting impassioned harmonies, heartfelt tunes, and valiant rhythms, her composition will offer audiences valuable perspective into how she – an artist in conflict born in 1903 – conceived of her existence as a woman of colour.

Shadows and Truth

However about the past. It requires time to adjust, to recognize outlines as they really are, to distinguish truth from misrepresentation, and I was reluctant to confront the composer’s background for a period.

I earnestly desired Avril to be her father’s daughter. To some extent, this was true. The idyllic English tones of parental inspiration can be observed in many of her works, including From the Hills (1934) and Sussex Landscape (1940). However, one need only review the titles of her parent’s works to realize how he identified as not only a flag bearer of English Romanticism but a voice of the Black diaspora.

At this point father and daughter seemed to diverge.

American society assessed the composer by the excellence of his compositions as opposed to the colour of his skin.

Samuel’s African Roots

During his studies at the renowned institution, the composer – the child of a parent from Sierra Leone and a Caucasian parent – turned toward his African roots. When the poet of color this literary figure came to London in that era, the aspiring artist eagerly sought him out. He set this literary work to music and the next year incorporated his poetry for a musical work, Dream Lovers. Then came the choral composition that established his reputation: Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

Inspired by this American writer’s The Song of Hiawatha, the piece was an global success, notably for African Americans who felt shared pride as American society judged Samuel by the excellence of his compositions instead of the his race.

Principles and Actions

Recognition failed to diminish Samuel’s politics. At the turn of the century, he was present at the pioneering African conference in London where he made the acquaintance of the Black American thinker WEB Du Bois and witnessed a series of speeches, covering the oppression of African people in South Africa. He was an activist to his final days. He sustained relationships with early civil rights leaders including the scholar and the educator Washington, gave addresses on ending discrimination, and even engaged in dialogue on issues of racism with the American leader while visiting to the White House in the early 1900s. As for his music, the scholar reflected, “he made his mark so prominently as a musician that it cannot soon be forgotten.” He succumbed in that year, in his thirties. However, how would her father have thought of his daughter’s decision to work in the African nation in the 1950s?

Issues and Stance

“Child of Celebrated Artist expresses approval to apartheid system,” declared a title in the African American magazine Jet magazine. The system “appeared to me the appropriate course”, the composer stated Jet. Upon further questioning, she backtracked: she didn’t agree with this policy “fundamentally” and it “should be allowed to run its course, directed by benevolent South Africans of diverse ethnicities”. Were the composer more in tune to her parent’s beliefs, or from segregated America, she might have thought twice about the policy. Yet her life had shielded her.

Identity and Naivety

“I possess a English document,” she remarked, “and the officials did not inquire me about my background.” Therefore, with her “light” skin (as described), she traveled within European circles, buoyed up by their acclaim for her renowned family member. She gave a talk about her parent’s compositions at the Cape Town university and directed the broadcasting ensemble in Johannesburg, including the bold final section of her composition, titled: “Dedicated to my Father.” While a skilled pianist personally, she avoided playing as the featured artist in her piece. Rather, she consistently conducted as the leader; and so the orchestra of the era played under her baton.

Avril hoped, according to her, she “could introduce a shift”. Yet in the mid-1950s, things fell apart. After authorities became aware of her Black ancestry, she could no longer stay the country. Her UK document didn’t protect her, the British high commissioner advised her to leave or face arrest. She went back to the UK, feeling great shame as the magnitude of her innocence dawned. “The realization was a painful one,” she expressed. Compounding her disgrace was the printing that year of her controversial discussion, a year after her sudden departure from that nation.

A Recurring Theme

As I sat with these shadows, I felt a recurring theme. The account of being British until it’s challenged – that brings to mind troops of color who served for the UK in the second world war and lived only to be denied their due compensation. Including those from Windrush,