Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. He is best remembered for his three cantatas based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem *The Song of Hiawatha*, the first of which premiered in 1898 when he was just 23. Of mixed-race descent, he achieved such acclaim that white musicians in New York City called him the “African Mahler” during his three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He married Jessie Walmisley, an Englishwoman; both their children pursued music. Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father’s works, and their daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer and conductor.
Born in Holborn, London, to Alice Hare Martin, an Englishwoman, and Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, a Creole man from Sierra Leone who had studied medicine, Coleridge-Taylor was raised by his mother and her father, a skilled farrier who taught him the violin. His musical talent emerged early, and at 15 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he shifted from violin to composition under Charles Villiers Stanford. After graduating, he taught at the Crystal Palace School of Music and conducted the Croydon Conservatoire orchestra. He later hyphenated his surname after a printer’s error.
In 1899, he married Jessie Walmisley, a fellow RCM student six years his senior; her parents initially objected due to his mixed-race background but eventually attended the wedding. His career was boosted by Edward Elgar, who recommended him to the Three Choirs Festival, where his “Ballade in A minor” premiered. Music publisher August Jaeger called him a genius. His *Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast* was a major success, leading to his three US tours. In America, he deepened his interest in his paternal heritage, attending the 1900 First Pan-African Conference in London and meeting figures like Paul Laurence Dunbar and W. E. B. Du Bois. His father’s family descended from Black Loyalists freed after the American Revolution, resettled in Nova Scotia and later Sierra Leone. Coleridge-Taylor considered moving to the US. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt received him at the White House. He sought to integrate traditional African music into classical forms, as Brahms had with Hungarian music and Dvořák with Bohemian music. He set Dunbar’s poems to music and performed a joint recital with him in London, organized by African-Am
- field
- Composer, conductor
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Cantatas on The Song of Hiawatha
Lore & Background
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a British composer and conductor of mixed-race descent, born in Holborn, London, to an English mother and a Creole father from Sierra Leone. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandfather, a skilled farrier who taught him the violin from an early age. His musical talent emerged quickly, leading to a scholarship at the Royal College of Music at age fifteen, where he shifted from violin to composition under Charles Villiers Stanford. He later adopted the hyphenated surname after a printer’s error. Coleridge-Taylor is best known for his three cantatas based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem *The Song of Hiawatha*, the first of which premiered when he was twenty-three. His success was such that white musicians in New York City called him the “African Mahler” during his three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He married Englishwoman Jessie Walmisley; both their children pursued music careers. Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father’s works, and their daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer and conductor. Coleridge-Taylor’s music drew from traditional African sources, which he sought to integrate into the classical tradition, much as Brahms did with Hungarian music and Dvořák with Bohemian music. He was the youngest delegate at the 1900 First Pan-African Conference in London and met figures such as poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and activist W. E. B. Du Bois. His father descended from Black Loyalists resettled in Nova Scotia and later Sierra Leone. Coleridge-Taylor seriously considered emigrating to the United States, intrigued by his paternal heritage.
Reader's Guide
Coleridge-Taylor's case contributed to the formation of the Performing Right Society, as his lack of royalties from Hiawatha highlighted the need for performance-based revenue for composers.
Did You Know?
- Coleridge-Taylor sold the rights to his hugely popular Hiawatha's Wedding Feast for only 15 guineas, losing future royalties.
- His son was named Hiawatha after the poetic figure from Longfellow's poem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor nicknamed the 'African Mahler'?
White musicians in New York City coined that label after he completed three successful American touring seasons in the early 1900s. The comparison to Gustav Mahler was meant to signal the grand scale and ambition of his choral-orchestral writing.
More in Classical Virtuosi 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record