1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Hey, we didn't get 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: this title backwards, in case any of you had a 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: moment of like, that's not right if you were hoping 6 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: for Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the English romantic poet who wrote 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. Sorry out 8 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: of luck today, I really am wondering how many people 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: may respond to our social media posts about this episode, 10 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: similar to when we did Charles Chapin and a lot 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: of people thought it was going to be Charlie Chaplin 12 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: and got confused. Yeah, yeah, Samuel Coleridge Taylor. And because 13 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: we are talking about a British composer who was a 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: standout both for his talent and also because he was 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: a black artist who moved in almost entirely white circles 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: when that was pretty unheard of. That's the confusion there. 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: We'll tell you in the first part. He's named for 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: the poet. His music kind of fell out of favor 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: for a while in the mid twentieth century, but the 20 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: last several decades his work has had a bit of 21 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: a revival and he's a pretty interesting figure both as 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: a composer and as kind of an interesting study in 23 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: race in both England and the US, because he had 24 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: a lot of US connections and how that impacted this 25 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: person's life who was a celebrity but was also in 26 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: the middle of a lot of a lot of issues 27 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: that tend to get put to the wayside when you 28 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: think of someone who has privilege of celebrity, but they 29 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: were still present in his life. So that's who we're 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: talking about today. So Samuel Coleridge Taylor at that time 31 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: with no hyphen was born on August fifteenth, eighteen seventy 32 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: five in Holborn, London. Was named after Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 33 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: As we just said, apparently his mother a lot of 34 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: the time called him by his middle name Coleridge. As 35 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: a young adult, his last name was hyphenated basically by 36 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: accident in print. He just rolled with it. So his 37 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: last name morphed from Taylor to Coleridge Taylor. So sometimes 38 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: we'll be referring to him as Samuel, sometimes as Colorridge Taylor. Yeah, 39 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: that's the name his family took and his children took 40 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: so I never found out if there was an actual 41 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: legal moment of changing it or if he just adopted 42 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: it and everyone was like, yep, that's fine. Name shifts 43 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: aside right out of the gate. There are some other 44 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 1: discrepancies in his family records and the various biographies written 45 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,239 Speaker 1: about him. So his mother, Alice Taylor, was a white 46 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: english woman. Her maiden name is recorded as Holman's on 47 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: the birth record. His father, who is listed on his 48 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: birth certificate as Daniel Hugh Taylor, was from Sierra Leone, 49 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: and although Alice's last name at the time of Samuel's 50 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: birth is given as Taylor, there is no record or 51 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: evidence of Alice and Daniel ever having married. To further 52 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: complicate things, Samuel's father left London months before Samuel was born. 53 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: He probably did not ever know that Alice was pregnant. 54 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: Daniel was a surgeon who had been studying at Taunton 55 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: in King's College, London, and once he either finished his 56 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: studies or he became frustrated at the lack of opportunities 57 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: available in England, he left. How that's told is a 58 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: little different from telling to telling. We're also going to 59 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: talk about him again a little bit later. So in 60 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: his early life Samuel was exposed to a lot of music. 61 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: When he was five or six, he started playing the violin. 62 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: He took lessons from a musician named Joseph Beckwith. In 63 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: an account given by Beckwith years later, he said he 64 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: had seen Samuel out the window of his home playing 65 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: marbles while holding his violin, and that he had asked 66 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: the boy to play for him. It became he had 67 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: been given some lessons at that point. Beckworth took him 68 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: on as a student and taught him for the next 69 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: seven years. Samuel also joined the church choir. This timeline 70 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: is also fuzzy. There I read one pretty intense breakdown 71 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: of it where people were trying to the writer was 72 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: trying to backdate. Okay, then when did Beckwith start teaching 73 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: him versus this claim that he had been playing since 74 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: he was five or six? Did beck With meet him 75 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: at that age or later? It's all a little unclear. 76 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: But Alice and Samuel moved from Holborn to Croydon when 77 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: he was still very young, and this, plus some support 78 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: that he received from people around him in his music 79 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: studies as a child, also offer some clues and mysteries. 80 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: Regarding his family. Samuel's mother, Alice, as we said, did 81 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: not have the last name Taylor. She also did not 82 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: have the last name Holmans as appeared on his birth record. 83 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: The name that she used was Alice Hare Martin, and 84 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: this does a line Samuel's grandmother's last name. She was 85 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: Emily and Martin. So why was Holmans entered as Alice's 86 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: name on the birth record. There are people named Holmans 87 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: in Samuel's early life. Those are Benjamin and Sarah Holmans, 88 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: although sometimes they're called by Holman without the s, and 89 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: that blurs the details even more. While their exact familial 90 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: relationship with Alice and Samuel as fuzzy, and a lot 91 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: of accounts they were involved in his life, they were 92 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: specifically integral to his musical education. In a biography of 93 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: Coleridge Taylor written for the British Library Board, Mike Phelps writes, quote, 94 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: the confusion might well have been a deliberate strategy to 95 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: circumvent the stigma of illegitimacy. On the other hand, if 96 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: the Alice of the birth certificate was the same woman 97 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: as Alice Hare Martin, it's not clear how or why 98 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: she and her son shifted with such ease from the 99 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: worst slum in the city to the relative safety of 100 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: suburban Croydon and the warm bosom of a respectable working 101 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: class family. There's speculation that the confusing information related to 102 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: Samuel's father offered on birth records was deliberate. It really 103 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: wasn't possible to conceal that Samuel was multiracial, but his 104 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: mother could at least sidestep any scandal or disadvantage that 105 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: her child would have from having been born out of wedlock. 106 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: So there have been a variety of speculations about this 107 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: entire dynamic with Alice and the Holmans came to be. 108 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: But when it all shakes down, it appears that Benjamin 109 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: Holman or Holmans, was probably Alice's biological father. Alice's mother, Emily, 110 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: had also not been married when Alice was born. Census 111 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: records are not all in alignment regarding this. An eighteen 112 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: sixty one census of the Holman's household mentions four children 113 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: of Benjamin and Sarah, none of whom are Alice, But 114 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: then in eighteen seventy one and in eighteen eighty one 115 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 1: those census records include her as a daughter. Coleridge Taylor 116 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: did refer to Benjamin Holmans as his grandfather, so that 117 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: seems to be what the situation is here. In an 118 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: article for Black Music Research Journal from two thousand and one, 119 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: biographer Jeffrey Green, who wrote a whole book on him, 120 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: later that I was not able to get my hands 121 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: on Uh. Makes the case that some biographies have knowingly 122 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: fudged these details because of that stigma that we talked about, 123 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: and that has made it really tricky to unravel all 124 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: of it over the years. Samuel was Alice's first child, 125 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: but soon he had siblings. His mother married a railroad 126 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: worker named George Evans in eighteen eighty seven, and they 127 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,239 Speaker 1: had three children together. The Hollmans paid for Samuel's music 128 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: lessons and gave him his first violin. We should note 129 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: that Samuel was not the only musician in the family. 130 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: His younger brother, Victor, also went on to have a 131 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: musical career, and their other siblings also learned music through 132 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: formal lessons. But Samuel, being the only multi racial child 133 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: in the family, faced a lot of racism that his 134 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: siblings did not. His classmates he later recounted, called him colely. Yeah. 135 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: There's also a side discussion to be had about the 136 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: musicality of this family, because, like the Holmans were not 137 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: especially musical. Benjamin Holman was I think a farrier, but 138 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: the kids all got music lessons and they tended to 139 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: be pretty good at it. The church choir that we 140 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: mentioned a moment ago also led to a mentorship of 141 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 1: Samuel by the choir master that was Colonel Herbert A. Walters. 142 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: Walters was a professional merchant, but he was also an 143 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: amateur musician who volunteered with the choir at Saint George's 144 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: Church of Croydon, and he saw so much promise in Samuel. 145 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: Walters later arranged for Samuel to meet with Charles Grove, 146 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,959 Speaker 1: who was the head of the Royal College of Music, 147 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: and Grove was impressed enough that Coleridge Taylor, who at 148 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: this point was only fifteen, was given a scholarship and 149 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: he enrolled with the college that same year. Initially, Samuel 150 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: started at the Royal College of Music as a violin student, 151 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,959 Speaker 1: but he also started taking composition classes. His professor in 152 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: composition was Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, an Anglo Irish composer 153 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: who's considered one of the most influential of the late 154 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: Romantic era. But Stanford was not the only impressive figure 155 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: in Taylor's life at the school. Composers like Gustav Holtz 156 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: and Ralph Vaughan Williams played concerts there. This is also 157 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: a place where, if the lore is true, he didn't 158 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:44,599 Speaker 1: have to shoulder the racism alone, because the school's leadership 159 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,839 Speaker 1: dealt with bigotry that was aimed at him head on. 160 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: In one instance, Sir Charles Villier Stanford overheard another student 161 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: make a racist remark and quickly and publicly informed this 162 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: person that his talent level was so far below that 163 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: of the young man that he had just insulted. Yeah, 164 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: it did seem like they stuck up for him. That 165 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: doesn't make it go away, obviously, sure, but he at 166 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: least had support of people older than him that were 167 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 1: in power. While he was still a student at the 168 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: Royal College of Music, Coleridge, Taylor had his first composition 169 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: published by Novello and Company. That was an anthem titled 170 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: in d Oh Lord. So in this case we're using 171 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,680 Speaker 1: the word anthem in its meaning as a choral hymn 172 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: of praise. The following year Novello published several more of 173 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: his anthems, and this all happened before he started formally 174 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: taking composition classes, and it's actually during these early publications 175 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: that that hyphenation of his name happened. So this is 176 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: officially in the early eighteen nineties when he becomes Coleridge 177 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: Taylor instead of Taylor. In eighteen ninety three, having already 178 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: gained a reputation for the music he had published, Coleridge 179 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,239 Speaker 1: Taylor was given a scholarship to study composition at the school. 180 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety five, Coleridge Taylor won the Leslie Alexander 181 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: Composition Prize, and then he won it again the next year. 182 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety six. He also began a friendship that 183 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: led to a collaborative relationship. That friendship was with Paul 184 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: Lawrence Dunbar. Dunbar was three years older than Coleridge Taylor. 185 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: He was one of the first black poets from the 186 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: United States to really be recognized for his mastery in 187 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: the field. Dunbar was originally from Ohio and he was 188 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: visiting London in eighteen ninety six when the two of 189 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: them met. Coleridge Taylor had heard about Dunbar's arrival in 190 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: England and had sought him out. He went right to 191 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: where he was staying to tell Dunbar he wanted to 192 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: work with his poems. The two of them shared the 193 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: trait of having been drawn to their fields very early 194 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: in life. Just as Samuel was playing music from the 195 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: age of five, Dunbar had written his first poem at 196 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: the age of six. Both of them continued their life 197 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: paths from there. So listeners, if you're trying to place Dunbar, 198 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: you would recognize his poem Sympathy. That's his most famous 199 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: and it includes the line I know why the caged 200 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: bird sings. It comes up twice in the final stanza. 201 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: If you associate that more with Maya Angelo, it is 202 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: because she was inspired by this poem to use that 203 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: line as the title of her autobiography. In eighteen ninety seven, 204 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: Coleridge Taylor and Dunbar created their first project together that 205 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: was Seven African Romances. These were songs with lyrics by 206 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: Dunbar and music by Coleridge Taylor, and they quickly followed 207 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: that with an operatic romance titled Dream Lovers that was 208 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: about two Moroccan men, one of them a prince. They 209 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: fall in love with two sisters at the age of 210 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: twenty one, Samuel started conducting an amateur orchestra in Croydon 211 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: and would conduct music with various choirs and orchestras for 212 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. Coming up, we're going to 213 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,080 Speaker 1: talk about Coleridge Taylor finding love with another musician, but 214 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: first we will take a quick sponsor break. While he 215 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: was in school, Samuel met fellow Royal College of Music 216 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: student Jesse Sarah Fleetwood Walmsley. She was a singer and 217 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: a pianist and was six years older than Samuel. Their 218 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: initial connection happened because Jesse needed a violinist to help 219 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: with duets for piano and violin. That was eighteen ninety two, 220 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: when Samuel was just seventeen. Jesse completed her time at 221 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: the RCM in eighteen ninety three, so right about the 222 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: time that Coleridge Taylor was beginning his composition studies in Earnest. 223 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: By February eighteen ninety eight, Jesse was singing with the 224 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: choir of the Croydon Conservatory of Music, which gave a 225 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:55,840 Speaker 1: concert including works by Coleridge Taylor. Exactly when their relationship 226 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: started is not clear, because it really seems like the 227 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: two of them kept thayings really quiet. Their instinct to 228 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: do that was valid. Once the news broke that they 229 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: were a couple, Jesse's family did not receive that news 230 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: well at all. The Walmisleys referred to Samuel using a 231 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: racist epithet, and when Samuel and Jesse announced their plans 232 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: to get married, the family was deeply opposed to the union. 233 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: They made some really gross and bigoted arguments to Jesse 234 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 1: about all the ways that marrying this man because of 235 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: his race would ruin her life. In the autumn of 236 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety eight, Coleridge Taylor had success with his original 237 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: composition titled Ballade in a Minor that won acclaim at 238 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival. This was a commission that 239 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: had originally been offered to composer Edward Elgar, but he 240 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: was unavailable and he recommended Coleridge Taylor instead, noting that 241 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: the young composer was incredibly clever. This is one of 242 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: many instances where Coleridge Taylor's career was really helped along 243 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: by pa with a lot of clout in musical circles 244 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: who recognized just how extraordinary his talent and skill were. 245 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: Later in eighteen ninety eight, Coloradge Taylor's composition Hiawatha's Wedding 246 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:16,479 Speaker 1: Feast made its debut, and this piece, which was inspired 247 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: by the eighteen fifty five Longfellow poem Song of Hiawatha, 248 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: brought almost instant fame to this young composer. This piece 249 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: is a choral work that sets the language of the 250 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: poem to music. It was published by Novello and then 251 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: had its performance debut on November eleventh at the RCM, 252 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: with his mentor Stanford conducting. One review of that debut 253 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:43,119 Speaker 1: performance read quote the production of mister Coleridge Taylor's cantata 254 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: Hiawatha's Wedding Feast on Friday evening at the Royal College 255 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: of Music marked another step forward in the career of 256 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: that promising young composer. The Hiawatha meter is, for musical purposes, 257 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: the most intractable in the world. There is no getting 258 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: away from its persistent lilt. One feels doubly grateful to 259 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: mister Coleridge Taylor for his musicianly treatment of a difficult subject. 260 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: Another review from the Birmingham Daily Gazette from November twenty 261 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: second read quote, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast a Cantata for tenor, solo, 262 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: chorus and orchestra words by Longfellow, music by s. Coleridge 263 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: Taylor is a very favorable example of this kind of 264 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: writing and amply sustains the reputation of the composer as 265 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,239 Speaker 1: a musician of genius. It often happens that the reviewer, 266 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: and his fear of doing even the smallest injustice, pauses 267 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: to reconsider, and over and over again, reverts to the 268 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: music submitted to his judgment. But nothing of the kind 269 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: is needed here. From the first to the last, the 270 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: work runs on easily, spontaneously and in perfect accord with 271 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: the words. Some courage is needed to attack such a libretto. 272 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: People started referring to Coleridge Taylor as the Black Moler. 273 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: One of the most famous commentaries on this piece actually 274 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: came from composer Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, who, 275 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: despite not feeling great at this point in his life, 276 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: went to this performance because it had been advertised as 277 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: the latest thing of this up and coming genius, and 278 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: he wrote in his diary after seeing the premiere that 279 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: he had found the composition quote fresh and original, as 280 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,880 Speaker 1: well as quote brilliant and full of color. He talks 281 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,239 Speaker 1: about how lush it is. He's pretty poetic about it. 282 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: With the success of Hiawatha's Wedding Feast and the high 283 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: profile that came with it, Jesse's family grudgingly cooled in 284 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: their objection to the couple's relationship. Listen. This is not 285 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: as though they magically stopped being racist, but the fame 286 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: and the fortune that they thought would come with it 287 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 1: made them amenable enough to at least attend Jesse and 288 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 1: Samuel's wedding in eighteen ninety nine. He also produced sequels 289 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: to the very popular Hiawatha's Way Wedding Feast. The first 290 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,680 Speaker 1: was Minnie Haha, which debuted in October eighteen ninety nine 291 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: at the North Staffordshire Music Festival. The next was Hiawatha's Departure, 292 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: which was published in the spring of nineteen hundred. These 293 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: three pieces of music were intended by Coleridge Taylor as 294 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: a trilogy, and was also performed and published in its 295 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: entirety under the same title as the poem that inspired it, 296 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,920 Speaker 1: which was The Song of Hiawatha, But those second two 297 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: parts of the trilogy didn't garner the same level of 298 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: praise as the first performances of Hiawatha's Wedding Feast as 299 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: a standalone piece also continued, and Coloradge Taylor conducted most 300 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: of them in the years following its debut. In its 301 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,959 Speaker 1: first five years, two hundred performances of it were staged 302 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,479 Speaker 1: in England. Yeah, it was hugely, hugely popular. Jesse and 303 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: Samuel had their first child that same year that the 304 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: trilogy was completed, a son, and they named him Hiawatha. 305 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: Three years later they welcomed a daughter named Gwendolen of Reel. 306 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: As his family grew, Coleridge Taylor started taking a variety 307 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: of jobs. He took teaching jobs and also playing for recitals. 308 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: He started guest conducting, He started working with theater productions. Basically, 309 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: he took any paying job he could that involved music. 310 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: He was still composing, but he knew he needed to 311 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: generate regular income to support Jesse and the children, and thankfully, 312 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: because of his name recognition, he was able to find 313 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: quite a lot of opportunities. In addition to producing new 314 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:39,160 Speaker 1: music and becoming a parent, Coleridge Taylor also started theatrical collaborations. 315 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: In nineteen hundred, he worked with Her Majesty's Theater, which 316 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: is now His Majesty's Theater, which was built in eighteen 317 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: ninety seven by actor manager Herbert beerbaum Tree. The first 318 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: project that Coleridge Taylor was brought in for was the 319 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: production of Ulysses in nineteen hundred. He also attended the 320 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred Pan African Conference that took place in London 321 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: in Westminster Town Hall in July. This gathering was organized 322 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,719 Speaker 1: by Henry Sylvester Williams, a Trinidadian barrister living in England 323 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: at the time, who founded the African Association in London 324 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety seven. This early effort of the Pan 325 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: African movement focused largely on issues facing the black populations 326 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: in the US and Imperial European nations and calling for 327 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:31,360 Speaker 1: recognition of the rights of people of African descent. If 328 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: you have read the W. E. B. Du Bois line, 329 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of 330 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 1: the color line, which appears in the forward to the 331 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: Souls of Black Folk, which he published three years later, 332 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: you would also recognize it in the Address to the 333 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: Nations of the World that was drafted at this conference. 334 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: Du Bois was in attendance at the conference. The address 335 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: calls for the end of mistreatment and sacrifice of African 336 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: people in pursuit of wealth, and also calls out the 337 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: use of alleged good intentions as a way to excuse 338 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: colonization and enslavement. That's in the passage quote, let not 339 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: the cloak of Christian missionary work be allowed in the future, 340 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,919 Speaker 1: as so often has happened in the past, to hide 341 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,360 Speaker 1: the ruthless exploitation and moral destruction of less developed nations 342 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: whose chief fault has been reliance on the plighted word 343 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: of the Christian Church. So the role of black identity 344 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:32,640 Speaker 1: in Coleridge Taylor's life in some ways seems kind of fragmented. 345 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: It could definitely be interpreted as somewhat tragic. He never 346 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: knew his father, and though he was generally perceived as 347 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: black by people who met him or just saw him 348 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: on the street, he was raised in an entirely white household, 349 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: and he was at the time the only black person 350 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: in his school or among his professional peers and mentors. 351 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: To be clear, the Royal College of Music had had 352 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: another black student before him. There was not anyone, though 353 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: in his immediate circle, who really understood what his life 354 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: was like, and it's clear when you think about that 355 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: why he would have so eagerly welcomed the friendship and 356 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,199 Speaker 1: collaboration that he had with Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and his 357 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: work seems to reflect this search for connection to other 358 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: people of color. His fascination with Longfellow's Hiawatha narrative is 359 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,360 Speaker 1: invoked as an example of this, because Coloradge Taylor links 360 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: the two cultures musically. In the piece, there's an echo 361 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,439 Speaker 1: of the spiritual Nobody Knows the trouble I've seen incorporated 362 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: in the Hiawatha overture. In the poem, Hiawatha looks for 363 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: his father who has left his family behind, and that's 364 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,920 Speaker 1: led biographers to speculate about that being part of Coleridge 365 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: Taylor's personal connection to the written material. Additionally, when he 366 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: first heard the touring Fisk Jubilee Singers on a tour 367 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: of England in eighteen ninety nine, he was instantly intrigued 368 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: by Black American folk music and started to study it 369 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: and incorporate elements of it in his own work. One 370 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,239 Speaker 1: of the things that becomes really apparent when looking at 371 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: Coleridge Taylor's life is that beyond anything else, he was 372 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,399 Speaker 1: a very hard worker, and we're going to talk about 373 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: the many jobs and projects that he juggled that we 374 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: haven't even touched on yet when we come back from 375 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Even before his marriage and his theater work, 376 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: Samuel Coleridge Taylor had been the Croydon Symphony Orchestra's conductor. 377 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: We mentioned that, and he had remained in that role 378 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: until that group disbanded in nineteen oh three. He simultaneously 379 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: served as the resident conductor for other groups, including the 380 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: Rochester Choral Society in the Westmoreland Festival. As a lecturer, 381 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: he taught about music in his hometown in Croydon for 382 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: several years before becoming part of the Trinity College of 383 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: Music teaching faculty in nighteen oh three. Though it would 384 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: seem that he was already plenty busy at this point. 385 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: He also started developing concerts with musicians from the defunct 386 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: Croyden Symphony Orchestra, and he bankrolled two programs with them 387 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: himself under the name Coleridge Taylor Orchestral Concerts. Overlapping all 388 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: of that conducting work, he partnered with Her Majesty's Theater 389 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 1: again in nineteen oh two for a production of Herod. 390 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: He started conducting the Handel Society. That year he also 391 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,359 Speaker 1: started his first tour of the United States. That was 392 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,880 Speaker 1: not the United States first exposure to his work. Two 393 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: years before that, a Coleridge Taylor Society had been formed 394 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: in the US, and that group had really heavily promoted 395 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: his work and had staged performances of his compositions. They 396 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 1: invited him several years earlier, in nineteen oh one, and 397 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 1: he had turned the invitation down, presumably because he was 398 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,400 Speaker 1: so busy in the immediate wake of the Hiawatha trilogy 399 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: being completed. It was in really hides a mand so 400 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,239 Speaker 1: by the time he arrived in nineteen oh four, he 401 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: was already famous in the US, so much so that 402 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: he was introduced to President Theodore Roosevelt. He was asked 403 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: to conduct the US Marine Corps Band and the Coleridge 404 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: Taylor Society Chorus together. The audience for that performance was large, 405 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: about twenty seven hundred people. Two thirds of those attending 406 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: were black. That same year as that first US tour, 407 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: Coleridge Taylor's father, doctor Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, died and 408 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: at that point it seems that people kind of knew 409 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: or had figured out that he was the composer's father, 410 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: because that fact appeared in the obituary that was published 411 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,639 Speaker 1: in the British Medical Journal on October twenty second, nineteen 412 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: oh four. That obituary reads, quote, the death is reported 413 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 1: from the West coast of Africa of doctor Daniel Peter 414 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: Hughes Taylor, one of the earliest and most successful of 415 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,920 Speaker 1: the West African native practitioners of British medicine. He received 416 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,919 Speaker 1: his education at king College, London, where he graduated in 417 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four. He lived at Bathurst, the principal town 418 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: of the Gambia Protectorate. There he occupied the post of 419 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: coroner and was also a Justice of the Peace for 420 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: the colony. Doctor Taylor was, we believe, the father of 421 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,679 Speaker 1: mister Samuel Coleridge Taylor, a writer of sacred music and 422 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: the author of Hiawatha. The gravestone that doctor Taylor has 423 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: in Gambia also allegedly notes that he is the father 424 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: of Samuel Coleridge Taylor. The next couple of years are 425 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: really filled with just an ongoing flurry of the kind 426 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: of work we've been talking about already, and nineteen oh 427 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: five Coleridge Taylor started teaching at the Crystal Palace School 428 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: of Art and Music. He published twenty four Negro Melodies 429 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: that year as well, writing in the introduction quote, what 430 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk music, d Vorzach 431 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: for the Bohemian and Greek for the Norwegian, I have 432 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: tried to do for Negro melodies. The meaning here is 433 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,199 Speaker 1: that he was trying to show the merit of music 434 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: that was associated with black culture, which was so often derided. 435 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: The Coleridge Taylor Orchestral Concerts that had been created from 436 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,400 Speaker 1: the remnants of the Croydon Symphony Orchestra evolved once more 437 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: to become the String Players Club in nineteen oh six, 438 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: and Coleridge Taylor was their honorary leader. He was not 439 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: paying production costs out of pocket any longer. The production 440 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 1: of Nero that was staged by Herbert Bierbaum Tree that 441 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: year took up a lot of Coleridge's time. It had 442 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,440 Speaker 1: a full score. He also traveled to the US once 443 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: again to tour, and this time he had an even 444 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: wider reach of cities included in the itinerary. His next project, 445 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: with Berbaum Tree was faust in nineteen oh eight. In 446 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, he started teaching at Guildhall School of Music 447 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: as their composition professor. There was also a third US 448 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: tour that year, once again bigger than the previous one. 449 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: His fame had continued to grow, and North American audiences 450 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: were eager to hear the musical adaptation of Henry Wadsworth 451 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 1: Longfellow's epic poem. On that nineteen ten tour, Colorge Taylor 452 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,959 Speaker 1: was invited to conduct not only for black orchestras, but 453 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: also for entirely white orchestras. After returning to London, Coloredge 454 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,640 Speaker 1: Taylor worked on his final collaboration with Herbert Bierbon Tree, 455 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: which was Othello. That production debut in nineteen twelve. I saw, 456 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: but was not able to confirm that he was the 457 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 1: first black conductor invited or allowed to conduct an all 458 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: white orchestra. I don't know if that's true, but it 459 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: seems like it. There were several new compositions that he 460 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 1: made after that third US tour, Petit suis de concert 461 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: and a cantata titled A Tale of Old Japan, which 462 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: used the poem by Alfred Noyes as its inspiration were 463 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: both published in nineteen eleven. He sent the book for 464 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: a commission titled Violin Concerto Across the Atlantic to the 465 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: US for its premier in early nineteen twelve. That version 466 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: of the composition never made it and is lost because 467 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: he had shipped it aboard the Titanic. This was obviously 468 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: a man who stayed busy. If you're wondering why a 469 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: famous composer had to take so many jobs to make 470 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: ends meet, because that was not a job that made 471 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: most artists wealthy. In Colorridge Taylor's case, he, like a 472 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: lot of other composers, had accepted a flat fee for 473 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: the rights to publish his compositions. Hyawatha's Wedding Feast earned 474 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: him twenty five pounds fifteen pence, but Novella made a 475 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: lot more money than that from the many many editions 476 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: that the company published over the years. When the follow 477 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: up pieces of that trilogy were published, Colorridge Tailor made 478 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: a lot more for them, or reported two hundred and 479 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: fifty pounds, which was a lot, but again that was 480 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: a one time payment. One of the aspects of his 481 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: life which isn't really really in this significant list of 482 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: projects and accomplishments is just how deeply his life was 483 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: affected by racism. It was something that his daughter wrote 484 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: about in her book, The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge Taylor 485 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: that was published in nineteen seventy nine, and in that 486 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: book she shares memories of the way that her father 487 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: was treated when he was out in public as a 488 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: black man, particularly when he was with his wife Jesse. 489 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: He may have been celebrated as a composer, but just 490 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: as a person going about his business, he was often 491 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: met with racism. He was particularly wounded when passers by 492 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: would make insulting remarks about his wife or his children. 493 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: So his daughter, who at this point was using her 494 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: middle name of Avriel when she wrote this biography, described 495 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: him at one point as gripping her hand so tightly 496 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 1: that it hurt. When they were out in public and 497 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,719 Speaker 1: he anticipated racist comments from other people on the street. 498 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: This is something that he didn't seem to talk about 499 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: a lot, but it obviously caused him considerable stress. The 500 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: story of sam Old Coleridge Taylor is sadly too short. 501 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: While waiting for a train at West Croydon Station on 502 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: August twenty eighth, nineteen twelve, he collapsed. He was taken 503 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: to his home and on September first, nineteen twelve, he died. 504 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: His cause of death was pneumonia that's believed to have 505 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: been exacerbated by overwork. He was buried at Bandon Hills Cemetery. 506 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: He was only thirty seven when he died, and his 507 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: death was front page news. Yeah, he had one of 508 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: those funerals that was just like attended by what seemed 509 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: to people there every human alive. It was huge. But 510 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: because he was still so young, his family was still 511 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: dependent on his income. When friends and colleagues realized that 512 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: his compositions didn't earn royalties, there was a whole lot 513 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: of effort to try to find ways to drum up 514 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: financial assistance so that they would be stable. There was 515 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: a memorial concert at Royal Albert Hall on November twenty second, 516 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: and the ticket sales, all of which went to Jesse 517 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: and the kids, to more than fourteen hundred pounds. There 518 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: were also college funds set up for Hiawatha and Gwendolen 519 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: of Real and a pension was arranged for Jesse. While 520 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: Color and Taylor's work fell out of favor for a 521 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,720 Speaker 1: while and he was more or less forgotten. By the 522 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: middle of the twentieth century, there's been a huge effort 523 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: to get his work back onto music stands and performed. 524 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: And that's really wonderful because now there are lots of 525 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: recordings and videos of it available online, so you too 526 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,960 Speaker 1: can listen to things like Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. I have 527 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: not listened to this, but Holly has, Oh I recommend it. 528 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: It's really beautiful. Some of it is so joyous and light. 529 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: Some of it has this great moodiness to it. It's very, 530 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: very pretty. I had heard it before, but in prepping 531 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: this episode, I listened to a lot of his music 532 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: just in the background, and I was constantly like, why 533 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: did anybody stop playing this live? Like I know, it 534 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: was not the popular style for a while, but it's 535 00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: so good, so good. I have a fun email that 536 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: is again laughing at things because I need it. After that, 537 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: I'm so sad that, you know, who knows what he 538 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: could have composed had he lived longer. So it's a 539 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: bummer and we don't have more of his work. But 540 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 1: I have a fun email from our listener Katie titled 541 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: the Trousers have Wounded Us All and It made me 542 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: laugh because I made her laugh, and that makes me 543 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:32,480 Speaker 1: laugh some more. Katie writes, Dear Tracy and Holly, I 544 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: may have never laughed harder while listening to a podcast, 545 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: and at the recent Friday episode where Holly read the 546 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: truly incredible letter by a fan of missus, Patrick Campbell, 547 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: where he bemoans her unflattering pants. I was writing on 548 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: my commuter train and I burst into cackling laughter, which 549 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: I cannot restrain until I had a stitch in my side. 550 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: So now her pants have wounded me too. I am 551 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: confident the other commuters were madly unsettled. Thank you for 552 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: this moment of hilarity and for the feeling off already 553 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: provided by hearing other women deal with this sort of nonsense. 554 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 1: Your podcast continues to be amazing, and I'm very grateful 555 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,440 Speaker 1: for all your hard work, wisdom and laughter. I don't 556 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,399 Speaker 1: have pets, but I did recently visit the DC Zoo 557 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,880 Speaker 1: where one of the seals was sunbathing in the banana 558 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 1: pos which is apparently what seals do when they are happy. 559 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: I've attached a picture of this very happy seal living 560 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: its best life. Can I tell you the envy I 561 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: felt for this seal. When I opened this picture, like, 562 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: oh man, I want to sit in banana pos Katie, 563 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: thank you because them I laughed again and listen, laughter, 564 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: best medicine, et cetera. I'm a believer. Listen, those pants 565 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: still making me laugh. If you would like to write 566 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 1: to us about pants that hurt you by existing, or 567 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,920 Speaker 1: anything else, you could do so at History Podcast at 568 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,840 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. You can also find us on social 569 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: media as Missed in History, and if you have not 570 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: yet subscribed to the podcast, you can do that on 571 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows. 572 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,320 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 573 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 574 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.