[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)]
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, profiled at AfriClassical.com, 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 patients in England would not come to him for treatment. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a leading Pan-Africanist who collaborated extensively with the African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Sandrine Thomas writes in BeyondVictoriana.com on May 23, 2010 that Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was one of 37 delegates to the first Pan-Africanist Conference in London in 1900: “Thirty-seven delegates attended the conference, among them Samuel Coleridge Taylor, John Alcindor, Dadabhai Naoroji, John Archer and Du Bois, and the focus of a great many speeches delivered were aimed at the governments of world powers to introduce legislation to bring about racial equality.”
Coleridge-Taylor 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. It is a setting of verses from Song of Hiawatha by 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. Britain had no system of royalties, so Coleridge-Taylor was paid only once for each composition, no matter how successful it became. He held multiple teaching and conducting positions in an effort to support his family. This led to exhaustion which worsened the pneumonia from which he died on Sept. 1, 1912, at age 37.
Since his last birthday, the British Library in London has held a special event, “Samuel Coleridge Taylor: The Neglected Superstar, Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009 from 18.30 – 20.30 in the Conference Centre.” The announcement continues: “With contributions from pianist Julian Joseph, experimental violinist Adaggio, historian Jeffery Green, musicologist Dr John Snyder (University of Houston), author and historian Mike Phillips and more. With the support The Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library and in association with reelJEMS.”
Samuel Coleridge-TaylorBorn August 15, 1875
Afro-British Composer
Paul Laurence Dunbar
1900 Pan-Africanist Conference
Neglected Superstar
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