About Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
The life of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor though tragically short was one of outstanding achievement. Amongst his many important works are Dream Lovers (1898), Herod (1901), Scenes from an Everyday Romance (1900) Ulysses (1901-2), Deep River (1904) and Kubla Khan (1905). He is particularly remembered for his music The Song of Hiawatha, based on Longfellow’s poem of the same name.
Born in Holborn in August 1875, the son of a West African doctor and an English mother, Samuel was named after the poet Samuel Taylor-Coleridge. During his first year he came with his mother to Croydon where they lived in an Elis David lodging house. Despite moving many times, the borough of Croydon was his home for the remainder of his life.
With his father returning to Africa, Samuel was gifted a small violin by a family member who also taught him the rudimentary positions. It was when Samuel’s mother Alice married, and the family moved from Elis David Road to Waddon New Road that his talent was first recognised by others.
One day Joseph Beckwith, a violin teacher and conductor of a Croydon orchestra glanced out of a window while giving a music lesson and saw the well-dressed young Samuel, precious violin in hand, playing marbles. He requested Samuel play a selection of duets and, surprised at the child’s competence, became Samuel’s violin and music mentor.
While attending the British School in Tamworth Road Samuel provided a violin accompaniment to the singing lessons. He was himself a competent chorister. Samuel enrolled as a student of violin and piano at the Royal College of Music in the Christmas Term of 1890. Whilst there he wrote anthems to which he set the words. In 1891 this included a Te Deum which was brought to the notice of Sir George Grove, on whose advice Samuel dropped the violin for composition. In early 1895 the Croydon Conservatoire of Music appointed Samuel a teacher despite his still being a student at the Royal College of Music.
Having struck up a friendship with American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1896 they formed a duet when Dunbar came to England. Samuel’s contribution was Hiawatha Sketches for Violin and Pianoforte. From this arose Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast which is among his most appreciated pieces.
By 1900 Samuel’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast had gained vogue in America. The first occasion on which he visited America was in 1904 as a guest of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Choral Society of Washington. This Society was without precedent in comprising entirely of two-hundred Black American citizens. It was formed in 1901 to produce and promote his work in the United States. His first visit coincided with the Coleridge-Taylor Festival. The first two of the three very successful concerts held in Washington was devoted to Hiawatha. While in the capital Samuel was received at the White House by President Roosevelt.
Samuel held several prestigious posts. By 1905 he was professor of theory and harmony at the Crystal Palace School of Art and Music. Among his last letters in 1910 is a reference to his being appointed professor and sub-conductor at the Guildhall School of Music, London.
He was generous with his skill and contributed much to Croydon’s cultural life early in the 20th century. He conducted many performances at Croydon venues and became the first President of the organisation that was by 1909 called the Croydon Stagers.
Samuel had attended the Royal College of Music at the same time as vocalist Miss Jessie Sarah Fleetwood Walmisley, and they increasingly worked together in Croydon. In 1899 they were married at Holy Trinity Church, Selhurst. Their son, Hiawatha, was born in 1900, and their daughter Gwendoline, the future conductor and composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor in 1903.
Towards the end of August 1912, whilst at West Croydon Station to buy a ticket for a show at Crystal Palace Samuel collapsed. He was taken home and retired to bed where he was nursed by Jessie. Although not thought to be in danger pneumonia set in and he died aged 37 on 1st September. He was buried in Bandon Hill Cemetery.
By John Hickman and Carole Roberts, Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society.