Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was British, African, and American… as was his music.
Coleridge-Taylor's mother was English, but his father, a medical student, was descended from American slaves freed by the British and evacuated to Nova Scotia at the end of the Revolutionary War. His family then continued to Sierra Leone, established as a free black colony by Britain.
Brought up in south London, the young Samuel showed strong talent on the violin, and his family pooled resources so the 15-year-old could study at the Royal College of Music. He changed his study to composition and was a star pupil of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. On completion he was appointed professor at the Crystal Palace School of Music.
One of his early works caught the attention of Sir Edward Elgar, who called him "far and away the cleverest fellow going.” On that reputation Coleridge-Taylor was able to have his first oratorio published before it was even performed… his adaptation of part of Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha,” Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, was a runaway international hit, described by Sir Hubert Parry as "one of the most remarkable events in modern English musical history."
On its strength two sequels were commissioned, and Coleridge-Taylor embarked on three tours of the U.S., where he became increasingly interested in the idea of integrating African, African-American, and Native American music with classical… the way Brahms and Dvorak did with Hungarian and Bohemian folk music.
The interest was mutual: Coleridge-Taylor was famed in the African-American community. Schools were named for him and a giant chorus, the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Society, was founded in Washington, D.C.
Tragically, Coleridge-Taylor’s bright light burned out early, passing of pneumonia at the age of 37
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor… one of the great what-ifs of classical music… and Classically Black.
