[African
Heritage Symphonic Series, Vol. 1;
Danse
Nègre From African Suite (6:14);
Petite
Suite de Concert
(13:36);
Chicago Sinfonietta; Paul Freeman, Conductor; Cedille 90000 055
(2000)]The
English historian Jeffrey Green is author of Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor, a Musical Life,
published by Pickering & Chatto Publishers (2011). It
has been favorably reviewed by Professor Dominique-René de Lerma:
“This biography corrects errors of the past and reveals that which
had been hidden. One comes away from this study with a new sense of
the composer, his colleagues and supporters, and the social and
political environment in which he lived.”|
|
Daniel Peter
Hughes Taylor was raised in Freetown, in the British colony of Sierra
Leone, Jeffrey Green tells us on Page 6 of his biography. He writes:
“Daniel Taylor attended the Church Missionary Society's grammar
school.” The author explains: “...its curriculum included Greek
and Latin.” He then tells us: “Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor was
there for four years. His family then sent him to England.”
He
began studies in 1870 at Wesley College in Taunton, in the West of
England, the author says. Subsequently, “...
..Taylor
went to study medicine at King's College Hospital, London. In
November 1874, aged twenty-five, he qualified as a Member of the
Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS). Sometime during his years in London
he met Alice, the woman who was to be the composer's mother."Daniel
Peter Hughes Taylor, MRCS took no part in his child's upbringing.
Nothing survives on Taylor's time at King's College but documents at
the Royal College of Surgeons show he registered in October 1871
after an examination in June.” The first biography of Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor appeared in 1915. Green continues: “That biography
states Dr. Taylor joined a medical practice in Croydon, taking on the
sole running of it and suffering financial distress as patients did
not trust a black doctor working without white supervision. So Taylor
returned to Africa, leaving his wife and son behind.” The author
says “...Daniel Taylor was back in Freetown before Alice's body
started to swell with their child.”
Colonial records for the Gambia are cited by the author as evidence that Dr. Taylor served as "deputy coroner" starting in 1891, and as coroner from 1896. A fee would have been paid him for each autopsy. Green writes Dr. Taylor died on August 25, 1904 at 57. A gravestone was erected by his daughter, the author writes. She is subsequently named as Rachel Taylor.
Jeffrey
Green writes that Coleridge-Taylor's maternal grandfather was
Benjamin Holmans, a blacksmith: “Holmans's relationship with a
younger woman had led to the birth of their daughter on 17 September
1856 at 43 Castle Place, Dover (where the 1851 census placed the
Holmans). When Emily Ann Martin registered the birth of her baby,
Alice Hare, no father's name was recorded. Alice Hare Martin was to
be the composer's mother. In the census of 1871 she was listed in the
Holmans household at 15 Theobalds Road...”
Jeffrey
Green writes of the birth of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor on August 15,
1875, which was registered on September 27, 1875: “Alice makes her
third appearance in the documents of Victorian England when she
registered the birth of her black baby in 1875. 'Samuel Coleridge
Taylor [sic]'
had been born at 15 Theobalds Road on 15 August 1875. Alice's
nineteenth birthday was a few weeks later. Soon they moved 10 miles
(16 km) south to Croydon. There the composer lived with his
grandfather and mother into the 1890s.” Coleridge-Taylor
was raised at 67 Waddon New Road, Croydon. The author says the block
faced railroad tracks busy with coal-powered steam engines, and was
downwind of a slaughter house.Young
Samuel was raised by his English mother and grandparents, the author
tells us. On P. 12 he writes: “Benjamin Holmans played the violin
and gave Coleridge-Taylor his first music lessons, the composer told
the Musical
Times in
1909. Coleridge-Taylor's first biographer wrote that Holmans
'taught him the various elementary positions on the instrument',
these lessons being 'of the most rudimentary type'.”Census
records confirm the makeup of the household of young Samuel, known to
his family as Coleridge: “Benjamin Holmans provided the home for
his wife, his daughter Alice and 'Coleridge Taylor': all listed at 67
Waddon New Road in the 1881 census.” Later on the same page we
read: “...there was financial stability in the household as
Coleridge - never called Samuel within the family - grew up.” The
author continues: “This financial security plus the warmth and
affection provided by his elders were important elements in the
formation of Coleridge-Taylor's character. “So too was their house
at 67 Waddon New Road for it sheltered the boy until the 1890s when
he was established at the Royal College of Music.”[Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
is profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]
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