[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Violin Concerto; Lorraine McAslan, violin; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor; Lyrita SRCD.317 (2007)]
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born on August 15, 1875 in the London suburb of Croydon, England. His mother was an English woman and his father was an African physician who returned to his home country of Sierra Leone when he found he could not attract patients for a medical practice of his own. A family friend oversaw the youth's musical training and arranged an admission interview at the Royal College of Music. That led to his enrollment as a violin student in 1890. Two years later he switched to composition and was taught by Charles Villiers Stanford. He had works performed in public while still a student at the college. Coleridge-Taylor wrote his Symphony in A Minor in 1896, we are told by Lewis Foreman in the liner notes of the world premiere recording, Classico 684 (2006).
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a leading Pan-Africanist who collaborated extensively with the African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He rose to prominence in 1898, the year he turned 23, on the strength of two works. The first was Ballade in A Minor. Next came Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, for which he is best known. The work is a setting of verses from Song of Hiawatha by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He conducted its premier to great acclaim. The work was staged hundreds of times in the United Kingdom and North America during the next 15 years. The composer made three hugely successful tours of North America, in 1904, 1906 and 1910.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor credited the Fisk Jubilee Singers with introducing him to African American spirituals, which he included with songs from Africa in his 24 Negro Melodies, Op. 59 (76:48). Coleridge-Taylor frequently appeared as conductor for his works and those of others. He took on multiple teaching positions, beginning in 1895, in an effort to support his family. Because of the lack of a royalty system in Britain, he was paid only once for each composition, no matter how successful it became. Exhaustion from overwork contributed to the pneumonia from which he died on Sept. 1, 1912, at age 37.
After a long period of neglect, the music of Coleridge-Taylor has been revived in recent decades, with many performances and recordings. His Clarinet Quintet will be played on Sept. 1, 2008 at the BBC Prom Concerts, and will be heard live on BBC Radio 3. From Oct. 2-4, 2008, The Lydian Singers of Trinidad and Tobago, with Steel, will present Scenes from the Song of Hiawatha. [Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is profiled at AfriClassical.com]
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Afro-British Composer
Born August 15, 1875
Leading Pan-Africanist
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
24 Negro Melodies
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