Saturday, September 01, 2012
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's short life ended exactly a century ago today.
Half British, half African (his father was a doctor from Sierra Leone),
he grew up in Croydon - and died there too, of pneumonia exacerbated by
overwork and exhaustion. Having had no notion of how popular his
oratorio Hiawatha would become, he'd accepted a small flat fee
for its publication and saw no financial benefit from its hundreds of
performances. His story helped to inspire the creation of the PRS - but
for him it was too late.
Had he lived, and emigrated to America, he might have become the
international star he deserved to be - though there he was celebrated
enough to be dubbed 'the black Mahler'. As things are, his fans still
struggle to keep his memory alive.
Long-time JDCMB readers may remember this: http://jessicamusic.blogspot.co.uk/2004/03/coleridge-taylor-and-south-africa.html
...
NB [UPDATE]: I fear some readers have been confusing Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. While his parents may
have named the British-African composer in honour of his eminent
forerunner, this has nevertheless been a problem for a long time. So,
just to clarify:
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: 1772-1834. English poet, critic and philosopher, author of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, amongst much else. (Fact: he attended, uh, Jesus College Cambridge, where he appears to have had a nervous breakdown.)
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: 1875-1912. British-African composer, counting the cantata Hiawatha among his greatest achievements...see above... This one is our anniversary man today.
Now, ANOTHER UPDATE, Sunday 2 Sept, lunchtime: Hilary Burrage has
more about Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in The Huffington Post (thanks for
alerting us to this in the Comments, Hilary!). Read it here.
Last but by no means least, here's an extract from a US documentary in the making, apparently due out next March.
No comments:
Post a Comment