Samuel Coleridge Taylor - Composer  Violinist  Conductor

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London in 1875 and brought up in Croydon. His mother was English and his father Daniel Taylor was from Sierra Leonean. Daniel Taylor had travelled to the UK to train as a medical doctor, unable to find work as a doctor in the UK once qualified, he returned to Africa before Samuel was born.

Samuel was taught to play the violin as a child and excelled. By age 15 he’d gained a place at the prestigious Royal College of Music, a phenomenal achievement for a young Mixed-Race Black teenager in Victorian England. As well as studying

the violin he also studied composition and conducting. Samuel was in his early twenties when he had a major breakthrough with his composition Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast in 1898 - this choral and orchestral work turned him into a national and international sensation. Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was performed hundreds of times across Britain and the U.S. Samuel went on to compose orchestral music, operas, chamber pieces, and choral arrangements, however none of them achieved the same popularity as Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.

America, especially, Black Americans truly adored Samuel. He went on to tour America three times, in 1904, 1906 and 1910. A choral society of Black musicians and singers named in his honour, the Samuel Coleridge Taylor Choral Society,  was formed in Washington DC. In 1904 Samuel was invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt. Let’s pause here. A Mixed-Race Black man from the UK, was invited to the White House by a sitting president in 1904. Black America adored him - his genius was seen as a symbol of pride  when Black Americans were viewed and treated as less than. And here was this trailblazing Mixed-Race Black British musical genius with a phenomenal talent that could not be denied.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Tragically Samuel was just 37 years age when he died from pneumonia, he lived modestly and was forced to work hard, taking on back to back contracts to make ends meet as despite the huge success of his composition Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast Samuel had sold the rights to this piece so did not reap any of the substantial rewards his composition generated – the publisher did. The publishers refused to give any money from proceeds to his family.

Just two years after his death the Performing Rights Society (PRS) was founded to help protect copyright and provide income for composers and songwriters.

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