Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 18751 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. He was particularly known for his
three cantatas on the epic 1855 poem ''
The Song of Hiawatha
''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his lo ...
'' by American
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 23. Of
mixed-race
The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more
races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...
descent, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white musicians in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
as the "African
Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s.
He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter,
Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer-conductor.
Early life and education

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born at 15 Theobalds Road in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...
, London, to Alice Hare Martin (1856–1953),
an Englishwoman, and Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, a
Creole man from
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
who had studied medicine in London and later became an administrator in West Africa. They were not married, and Daniel had returned to Africa without learning that Alice was pregnant. (Alice's parents had not been married at her birth, either.) Alice named her son Samuel Coleridge Taylor (without a hyphen), after the poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
.
Alice lived with her father, Benjamin Holmans, and his family after Samuel was born. Holmans was a skilled
farrier
A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adju ...
and was married to a woman who was not Alice's mother, with whom he had four daughters and at least one son. Alice and her father called her son Coleridge. In 1887 she married George Evans, a railway worker, and lived in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
on a street adjoining the railway line.
There were numerous musicians on Taylor's mother's side, and her father played the violin, teaching it to his grandson from an early age. Taylor's musical ability quickly became apparent, and his grandfather paid for him to have violin lessons. The extended family arranged for Taylor to study at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...
from the age of 15. He changed from the violin to composition, working under
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...
. After completing his degree, he became a professional musician; he was appointed a professor at the
Crystal Palace School of Music and began conducting the orchestra at the Croydon Conservatoire.
He later used the name "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor", with a hyphen, said to be following a printer's error.
In 1894 Taylor's father was appointed a coroner in
the colony of Gambia.
Marriage

In 1899 Coleridge-Taylor married Jessie Walmisley, whom he had met as a fellow student at the Royal College of Music. Six years older than he, Jessie had left the college in 1893. Her parents objected to the marriage because Taylor was of mixed-race parentage, but relented and attended the wedding.
The couple had a son, named Hiawatha Bryan (1900–1980) after
the poetic figure, and a daughter Gwendolen Avril (1903–1998). Both had careers in music: Hiawatha adapted his father's works.
Gwendolen started composing music early in life, and also became a conductor-composer; she used the professional name of
Avril Coleridge-Taylor.
Career
By 1896, Coleridge-Taylor was already earning a reputation as a composer. He was later helped by
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
, who recommended him to the
Three Choirs Festival. His "Ballade in A minor" was premiered there. His early work was also guided by the influential music editor and critic
August Jaeger of music publisher
Novello; he told Elgar that Taylor was "a genius".
On the strength of ''
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'', which was conducted by Professor
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...
at its 1898 premiere and proved to be highly popular, Coleridge-Taylor made three tours of the United States in 1904, 1906, and 1910.
In the United States, he became increasingly interested in his paternal racial heritage. Coleridge-Taylor participated as the youngest delegate at the 1900
First Pan-African Conference held in London, and met leading Americans through this connection, including the poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...
and the scholar and activist
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...
.
Coleridge-Taylor's father Daniel Taylor was descended from African-American slaves who were freed by the British and evacuated from the colonies at the end of the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
; some 3,000 of these
Black Loyalist
Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown's guarantee of fr ...
s were resettled in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
. Others were resettled in London and the Caribbean. In 1792 some 1200 blacks from Nova Scotia chose to leave what they considered a hostile climate and society, and moved to
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
, which the British had established as a colony for free blacks. The Black Loyalists joined free blacks (some of whom were also African Americans) from London, and were joined by
maroons
Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas and islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery, through flight or manumission, and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with Indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into ...
from
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, and slaves liberated at sea from illegal slave ships by the British navy. At one stage Coleridge-Taylor seriously considered emigrating to the United States, as he was intrigued by his father's family's past there.
In 1904, on his first tour to the United States, Coleridge-Taylor was received by President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
at the White House, a rare event in those days for a man of African descent.
His music was widely performed and he had great support among African Americans. Coleridge-Taylor sought to draw from traditional African music and integrate it into the classical tradition, which he considered
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
to have done with
Hungarian music and
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...
with
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
n music. Having met the African-American poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...
in London, Taylor set some of his poems to music. A joint recital between Taylor and Dunbar was arranged in London, under the patronage of US ambassador
John Milton Hay. It was organised by
Henry Francis Downing, an African-American playwright and London resident. Dunbar and other black people encouraged Coleridge-Taylor to draw from his Sierra Leonean ancestry and the music of the African continent.
His standing caused Coleridge-Taylor to be invited to judge at music festivals. He was said to be personally shy but was still effective as a conductor.
Composers were not handsomely paid for their music, and they often sold the rights to works outright in order to make immediate income. This caused them to lose the royalties earned by the publishers who had invested in the music distribution through publication. The popular ''Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'' sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but Coleridge-Taylor had sold the music outright for the sum of 15
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
, so did not benefit directly.
He learned to retain his rights and earned royalties for other compositions after achieving wide renown but always struggled financially.
Death
Coleridge-Taylor was 37 when he died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
. His death is often attributed to the stress of his financial situation. He was buried in
Bandon Hill Cemetery,
Wallington, Surrey (today in the
London Borough of Sutton
The London Borough of Sutton () is an Outer London London boroughs, borough in south London, England. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, ...
).
Honours
* The inscription on Coleridge-Taylor's carved headstone includes four bars of music from the composer's best-known work, ''
Hiawatha
Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwatha or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and cofounder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some accounts, he ...
'', and a tribute from his close friend, the poet
Alfred Noyes, that includes these words:
*
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
George was born during the reign of his pa ...
granted Jessie Coleridge-Taylor, the young widow, an annual pension of
£100, evidence of the high regard in which the composer was held.
* In 1912 a memorial concert was held at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
and garnered over £1400 for the composer's family.
* After Coleridge-Taylor's death in 1912, musicians were concerned that he and his family had received no royalties from his ''
Song of Hiawatha'', which was one of the most successful and popular works written in the previous 50 years. (He had sold the rights early in order to get income.) His case contributed to their formation of the
Performing Right Society, an effort to gain revenues for musicians through performance as well as publication and distribution of music.
Coleridge-Taylor's work continued to be popular. He was later championed by conductor
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...
. Between 1928 and 1939, Sargent conducted ten seasons of a large costumed ballet version of ''The Song of Hiawatha'' at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
, performed by the Royal Choral Society (600 to 800 singers) and 200 dancers.
Legacy
Coleridge-Taylor's greatest success was undoubtedly his
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...
''
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'', which was widely performed by choral groups in England during Coleridge-Taylor's lifetime and in the decades after his death. Its popularity was rivalled only by the choral standards
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
's ''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
'' and
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...
's ''
Elijah
Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...
''.
The composer soon followed ''Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'' with two other cantatas about Hiawatha, ''The Death of Minnehaha'' and ''Hiawatha's Departure''. All three were published together, along with an Overture, as ''
The Song of Hiawatha
''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his lo ...
'', Op. 30. The tremendously popular ''Hiawatha'' seasons at the Royal Albert Hall, which continued until 1939, were conducted by Sargent and involved hundreds of choristers, and scenery covering the organ loft. ''Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'' is still occasionally revived.
Coleridge-Taylor also composed
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
, anthems, and the ''African Dances'' for violin, among other works. The ''Petite Suite de Concert'' is still regularly played. He set one poem by his namesake
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
, "
Kubla Khan
"Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream" () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to "Kub ...
".
Coleridge-Taylor was greatly admired by African Americans; in 1901, a 200-voice African-American chorus was founded in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, named the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Society. He visited the United States three times in the early 1900s, receiving great acclaim, and earned the title "the African Mahler" from the white orchestral musicians in New York in 1910.
Public schools were named after him in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
, and in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, Maryland.
Coleridge-Taylor composed a violin concerto in 1912 for the American violinist
Maud Powell. The American performance of the work was subject to rewriting because the parts were lost ''en route''—not, as legend has it, on the RMS ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'' but on another ship.
The concerto has been recorded by
Philippe Graffin and the
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra under
Michael Hankinson (nominated "Editor's Choice" in ''
Gramophone'' magazine),
Anthony Marwood and the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under
Martyn Brabbins
Martyn Charles Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor.
Biography
The fourth of five children in his family, he learned to play the euphonium, and then the trombone during his youth at Towcester Studio Brass Band. He later studi ...
(on
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...
), and Lorraine McAslan and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
conducted by
Nicholas Braithwaite (on the
Lyrita label). It was also performed at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
's
Sanders Theatre in the autumn of 1998 by
John McLaughlin Williams and William Thomas, as part of the 100th-anniversary celebration of the composition of ''Hiawatha's Wedding Feast''. On 19 July 2023 it was performed at the BBC Proms with Elena Urioste as soloist with the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales under
Tadaaki Otaka
is a Japanese conductor.
Biography
Otaka was born in Kamakura, Japan on November 8, 1947.
He studied composition, theory, and French horn, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Chōfu. He was subsequently a conducting student of Hideo Saito ...
.
Lists of Coleridge-Taylor's compositions and recordings of his work and of the many articles, papers and books about Coleridge-Taylor's life and legacy are available through the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation and the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Network.
There are two
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
s in his memory, one in Dagnall Park, South Norwood, and the other in St Leonards Road, Croydon, at the house where he died. A metal figure in the likeness of Coleridge-Taylor has been installed in Charles Street, Croydon.
A two-hour documentary, ''Samuel Coleridge Taylor and His Music in America, 1900–1912'' (2013), was made about him and includes a performance of several of his pieces, as well as information about him and his prominent place in music. It was written and directed by Charles Kaufmann, and produced by The Longfellow Chorus.
A feature animation, ''The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Story'' (2013), was made about him, written and directed by Jason Young. It was screened as part of Southwark Black History Month and Croydon Black History Month in 2020.
Chi-chi Nwanoku presented in 2017 on the
Sky Arts
Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...
series ''Passions'' a program about Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
On 26 August 2021 Coleridge-Taylor's Symphony in A minor received its
Proms premiere by the
Chineke! Orchestra
Chineke! Orchestra () is a British orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black & ethnically diverse musicians. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language meaning "God". The orchestra was founded by m ...
with
Kalena Bovell.
On 1 September 2023 Coleridge-Taylor's ''Four Novelletten'' received its Proms premiere by the Chineke! Orchestra with
Anthony Parnther.
The American composer
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) was named after Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Posthumous publishing
In 1999, freelance music editor Patrick Meadows identified three important chamber works by Coleridge-Taylor that had never been printed or made widely available to musicians. A handwritten performing parts edition of the Piano Quintet, from the original in the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...
(RCM) Library, had been prepared earlier by violinist Martin Anthony Burrage of the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...
. The first modern performance of the Piano Quintet was given on 7 November 2001 by Burrage's chamber music group, Ensemble Liverpool / Live-A-Music in
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The lunchtime recital included the ''Fantasiestücke''. Live recordings of this performance are lodged with the RCM and the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
.
[ The artists were Andrew Berridge (violin), Martin Anthony (Tony) Burrage (violin), Joanna Lacey (viola), Michael Parrott (cello) and John Peace (piano).
The first modern performance of the Nonet was given on 8 July 1998 at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest in Columbus, Ohio. The performing edition by Jane Ellsworth was published in 1998 and 2025 by Tecchler Press
After receiving copies of the work from the RCM in London, Patrick Meadows made printed playing editions of the Nonet, Piano Quintet and Piano Trio. The works were performed in Meadows's regular chamber music festival on the island of ]Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
, and were well received by the public as well as the performers.
The first modern performances of some of these works were done in the early 1990s by the Boston, Massachusetts-based Coleridge Ensemble, led by William Thomas of Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...
, Andover
Andover may refer to:
Places Australia
*Andover, Tasmania
Canada
* Andover Parish, New Brunswick
* Perth-Andover, New Brunswick
United Kingdom
* Andover, Hampshire, England
** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station
United States
* Andov ...
. This group subsequently made world premiere recordings of the Nonet, ''Fantasiestücke'' for string quartet and ''Six Negro Folksongs'' for piano trio, which were released in 1998 by Afka Records. Thomas, a champion of lost works by black composers, also revived Coleridge's ''Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'' in a performance commemorating the composition's 100th anniversary with the Cambridge Community Chorus at Harvard's Sanders Theatre in the spring of 1998. In 2006, Meadows finished engraving the first edition of Coleridge-Taylor's Symphony in A minor. Meadows has also transcribed from the RCM manuscript the '' Haytian Dances'', a work virtually identical to the ''Noveletten'' but with a fifth movement inserted by Coleridge-Taylor, based on the Scherzo of the symphony. This work is for string orchestra
A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...
, tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...
and triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
.
The Nash Ensemble's recording of the Piano Quintet was released in 2007.
''Thelma'', the missing opera
Coleridge-Taylor's only large-scale operatic work, ''Thelma'', was long believed to have been lost. As recently as 1995, Geoffrey Self in his biography of Coleridge-Taylor, ''The Hiawatha Man'', stated that the manuscript of ''Thelma'' had not been located, and that the piece may have been destroyed by its creator. While researching for a PhD on the life and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Catherine Carr unearthed the manuscripts of ''Thelma'' in the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
. She assembled a libretto and catalogued the opera in her thesis, presenting a first critical examination of the work by a thorough investigation of the discovered manuscripts (including copious typeset examples). The work subsequently appeared as such on the catalogue of the British Library.
''Thelma'' is a saga of deceit, magic, retribution and the triumph of love over wickedness. The composer followed Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
's manner in eschewing the established "numbers" opera format, preferring to blend recitative, aria and ensemble into a seamless whole. It is possible that he had read Marie Corelli
Mary Mackay (1 May 185521 April 1924), also called Minnie Mackey and known by her pseudonym Marie Corelli (, also , ), was an English novelist.
From the appearance of her first novel '' A Romance of Two Worlds'' in 1886, she became a bestselli ...
's 1887 "Nordic" novel ''Thelma'' (it appears that the name "Thelma" may have been created by Corelli for her heroine). Coleridge-Taylor composed ''Thelma'' between 1907 and 1909; it is alternatively entitled ''The Amulet''.
The full score and vocal score in the British Library are both in the composer's hand – the full score is unbound but complete (save that the vocal parts do not have the words after the first few folios) but the vocal score is bound (in three volumes) and complete with words. Patrick Meadows and Lionel Harrison prepared a type-set full score, vocal score and libretto (the librettist is uncredited and may be Coleridge-Taylor himself). As to the heroine of the title, the composer changed her name to "Freda" in both full and vocal scores (although in the full score he occasionally forgets himself and writes "Thelma" instead of "Freda"). Perhaps Coleridge-Taylor changed the name of his heroine (and might have changed the name of the opera, had it been produced) to avoid creating the assumption that his work was a treatment of Corelli's then very popular novel. Since that precaution is scarcely necessary today, Meadows and Harrison decided to revert to the original ''Thelma''.
There are minor discrepancies between the full score and the vocal score (the occasional passage occurring in different keys in the two, for example), but nothing that would inhibit the production of a complete, staged performance.
''Thelma'' received its world première in Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
's Ashcroft Theatre in February 2012, the centenary year of the composer's death, performed by Surrey Opera, using an edition prepared by Stephen Anthony Brown. It was conducted by Jonathan Butcher, directed by Christopher Cowell and designed by Bridget Kimak. Joanna Weeks sang the title role, with Alberto Sousa as Eric and Håkan Vramsmo as Carl.
List of compositions
With opus number
* Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 1 – 1893
* Nonet in F minor for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, contrabass and piano, Op. 2 – 1894
* Suite for Violin and Organ (or piano), Op. 3 (''Suite de Piêces'') – 1893
* Ballade in D minor, Op. 4 – 1895
* ''Five Fantasiestücke'', Op. 5 – 1896
* ''Little Songs for Little Folks'', Op. 6 – 1898
* ''Zara's Earrings'', Op. 7 – 1895
* Symphony in A minor, Op. 8 – 1896
* ''Two Romantic Pieces'', Op. 9 – 1896
* Quintet in F-sharp minor for clarinet and strings, Op. 10 – 1895
* ''Southern Love Songs'', Op. 12 – 1896
* String Quartet in D minor, Op. 13 – 1896 (lost)
* ''Legend'' (''Concertstück''), Op. 14
* ''Land of the Sun'', Op. 15 – 1897
* ''Three Hiawatha Sketches'' for violin and piano, Op. 16 – 1897
* ''African Romances'' (P. L. Dunbar) Op. 17 – 1897
* ''Morning and Evening Service in F'', Op. 18 – 1899
* ''Two Moorish Tone-Pictures'', Op. 19 – 1897
* ''Gypsy Suite'', Op. 20 – 1898
* Part Songs, Op. 21 – 1898
* ''Four Characteristic Waltzes'', Op. 22 – 1899
* ''Valse-Caprice'', Op. 23 – 1898
* ''In Memoriam'', three rhapsodies for low voice and piano, Op. 24 – 1898
* ''Dream Lovers'', Operatic Romance, Op. 25 – 1898
* ''The Gitanos'', cantata-operetta, Op. 26 – 1898
* Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 28 – ?1898 (pub. 1917)
* ''Three Songs'', Op. 29 – 1898
* ''The Song of Hiawatha'', Op. 30 ("Overture to The Song of Hiawatha", 1899; "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast", 1898; "The Death of Minnehaha", 1899; "Hiawatha's Departure", 1900)
* ''Three Humoresques'', Op. 31 – 1898
* Ballade in A minor, Op. 33 – 1898
* ''African Suite'', Op. 35 – 1899
* ''Six Songs'', Op. 37
* ''Three Silhouettes'', Op. 38 – 1904
* Romance in G, Op. 39 – 1900
* ''Solemn Prelude'', Op. 40 – 1899
* ''Scenes from an Everyday Romance'', Op. 41 – 1900
* ''The Soul's Expression'', four sonnets, Op. 42 – 1900
* ''The Blind Girl of Castél-Cuillé'', Op. 43
* ''Idyll'', Op. 44 – 1901
* ''Six American Lyrics'', Op. 45 – 1903
* Concert Overture, ''Toussaint L'Ouverture'', Op. 46 – 1901
* ''Hemo Dance'', scherzo, Op. 47(1) – 1902
* ''Herod'', incidental music, Op. 47(2) – 1901
* ''Meg Blane'', Rhapsody of the Sea, Op. 48 – 1902
* ''Ullyses'', incidental music, Op. 49 – 1902
* ''Three Song Poems'', Op. 50 – 1904
* ''Ethiopia Saluting the Colours'', march, Op. 51 – 1902
* ''Four Novelletten'' for string orchestra, Op. 52 – 1903
* ''The Atonement'', sacred cantata, Op. 53 – 1903
* ''Five Choral Ballads'', Op. 54 – 1904
* ''Moorish Dance'', Op. 55 – 1904
* ''Three Cameos for Piano'', Op. 56 – 1904
* ''Six Sorrow Songs'', Op. 57 – 1904
* ''Four African Dances'', Op. 58 – 1904
* ''Twenty-Four Negro Melodies'', Op. 59(1) – 1905
* Romance, Op. 59(2) – 1904
* ''Kubla Khan'', rhapsody, Op. 61 – 1905
* ''Nero'', incidental music, Op. 62 – 1906
* ''Symphonic Variations on an African Air'', Op. 63 – 1906
* ''Scenes de Ballet'', Op. 64 – 1906
* ''Endymion's Dream'', cantata, Op. 65 – 1910
* ''Forest Scenes'', Op. 66 – 1907
* Part Songs, Op. 67 – 1905
* ''Bon-Bon Suite'', Op. 68 – 1908
* ''Sea Drift'', Op. 69 – 1908
* ''Faust'', incidental music, Op. 70 – 1908
* ''Valse Suite'': "Three fours", Op. 71 – 1909
* ''Thelma'', opera in three acts, Op. 72 – 1907–09
* Ballade in C minor, Op. 73 – 1909
* ''Forest of Wild Thyme'', incidental music, Op. 74 (five numbers) – 1911–25
* ''Rhapsodic Dance'', ''The Bamboula'', Op. 75 – 1911
* ''A Tale of Old Japan'', Op. 76 – 1911
* ''Petite Suite de Concert'', Op. 77 – 1911
* ''Three Impromptus'', Op. 78 – 1911
* ''Othello'', incidental music, Op. 79 – 1911
* Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80 – 1912
* ''Two Songs for Baritone Voice'', Op. 81 – 1913
* ''Hiawatha'', ballet in five scenes, Op. 82 – 1920[Coleridge-Taylor, Avril, ''The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor'', London: Dobson, 1979, pp. 145–154.]
Without opus number
* ''Eulalie''
* ''From the Prairie''
* ''The Lee Shore''
* Trio in E minor - 1893
* ''Variations for Cello and Piano''
Recordings
''Quintet for Piano & Strings in G min. Op. 1''
''Fantasiestucke for String Quartet Op. 5'' – Live-A-Music (2001)
* ''Ballade in A minor, Op. 33'', ''Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63'' – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...
, Grant Llewellyn, Argo Records
Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 in music, 1955 as a division of Chess Records.
Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint w ...
436 401-2
* ''Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Chamber Music'' – Hawthorne String Quartet. Label: Koch International
Koch Entertainment was an American record label and a distributor of film, television, and music. It was purchased by Canadian entertainment company Lionsgate Canada, ROW Entertainment in 2005.
History First years
The company began in 1975 as ...
3-7056-2
*
Heart & Hereafter – Collected Songs
', Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano), Simon Lepper (piano). Label: Orchid Classics ORC100164 (2021)
* ''Hiawatha'' – Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...
, – conductor Kenneth Alwyn
Kenneth Alwyn Wetherell (28 July 1925 – 10 December 2020) was a British conductor, composer, and writer. Described by BBC Radio 3 as "one of the great British musical directors", Alwyn was known for his many recordings, including with the Lo ...
, soloist Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones (; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and ''Don Giovanni,'' but he has subsequ ...
. Label: Decca
Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label
* Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...
458 591–2
* ''Piano & Clarinet Quintets'' – Nash Ensemble. Label: Hyperion CDA67590
* ''Violin Sonata; African Dances; Hiawathan Sketches; Petite Suite de Concert'' – David Juritz (violin), Michael Dussek (piano). Label: Epoch CDLX 7127
* ''Sir Malcolm Sargent conducts British Music'' includes "Othello Suite" – New Symphony Orchestra. Label: Beulah Records 1PD13
* ''The Romantic Violin Concerto Volume 5'' includes "Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80" – Anthony Marwood (violin), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Martyn Charles Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor.
Biography
The fourth of five children in his family, he learned to play the euphonium, and then the trombone during his youth at Towcester Studio Brass Band. He later studi ...
(conductor). Label: Hyperion CDA67420
* ''Symphony, Op. 8'', Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Douglas Bostock (conductor), in The British Symphonic Collection, Vol. 15. Classico label by Olufsen Records
* 2nd of the ''Three Impromptus, Op. 78'' for organ, on ''Now Let Us Sing!'', 2013 recording by the Choir of Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the Mother Church# ...
, played by Christopher Allsop.
* ''Fantasiestücke'' in ''Dvořák: String Quartet Op 106; Coleridge-Taylor: Fantasiestücke'' by the Takács Quartet, Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...
, July 2023.
* ''Choral Music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor'': London Choral Sinfonia directed by Michael Waldron. Orchid Classics ORC100247 (2023)
* ''Samuel Coleridge Taylor: Partsongs'', The Choir of King's College London, Joseph Fort (director). Label: Delphian Records DCD34271
References
Further reading
*
* Bobby & Co., London (n.d)
* , personal printing
*
*
*
*
*
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External links
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation
Songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
at The Art Song Project
AfriClassical.com
"Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)"
''Composer of the Week'', BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
* "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)" at BBC Music
BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke.
Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...
"Who Was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor? (He's Not to Be Confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge)"
''Londonist
''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...
'', 19 May 2017.
*
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900–1912
' The full Longfellow Chorus documentary on YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
* Samuel Coleridge Taylor
''Melody''
(1898). Andrew Pink (2021
''Exordia ad missam''
Scores
The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Collection
at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University
Four characteristic waltzes. Op. 22
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
"Five and twenty sailormen"
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Concerto in G minor for violin & orchestra, Op. 80
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Organ music, Selections
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Sonata in D minor for violin and piano, Op. 28
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Variations in B minor for violoncello & piano
at the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Liner Notes for the Hyperion recording of the Violin Concerto Op. 80
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel
1875 births
1912 deaths
19th-century English classical composers
19th-century English male musicians
20th-century English classical composers
20th-century English male musicians
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Black British classical musicians
20th-century Black British musicians
Classical composers of African descent
Deaths from pneumonia in England
English light music composers
English male classical composers
English male opera composers
English opera composers
English people of African-American descent
English people of Sierra Leonean descent
English Romantic composers
Oratorio composers
Musicians from the London Borough of Camden
Musicians from the London Borough of Croydon
People from Croydon
People from Holborn
Pupils of Charles Villiers Stanford