|
COPYRIGHT 2001 Center For Black Music Research
During the preparations for this issue, I was aware that there were several aspects of Coleridge-Taylor that needed action, despite the apparent wealth of biographical and analytical publications. Efforts to add his compositions into the current repertory of more musicians, the need to correct misunderstandings about the composer's family, the impact of Africa, and the American experience are evident from the articles presented here.
The death of the composer's daughter since the publication of contributor Geoffrey Self's The Hiawatha Man (1995) has resulted in more documentation being deposited at the Royal College of Music, holdings that already included wonders such as cards from wreaths sent to the composer's funeral in 1912 and a nearly blank notebook that contained strands of the composer's hair. These new materials may assist scholars in resolving some of the issues about Coleridge-Taylor that remain. Among these is the relationship of Coleridge-Taylor and the Holmans family, notably the composer's musical uncle, Benjamin Holmans Jr., and his children. The recent release of the British census of 1901 may assist in tracking down modern relatives. The musical capabilities of the fifteen-year-old Coleridge-Taylor were apparent both at the time of his entrance interview and within weeks of beginning his studies at the Royal College of Music. Could this uncle be the significant influence? The African family also has to pursued. The gravestone of Dr. Taylor, the composer's father, in Banjul states that it was erected by the doctor's daughter. Dating from 1904, the grave is in poor condition following the collapse of a nearby wall, so even this clue may soon disappear.
The composer's early contacts with men and women of African birth or descent remain largely speculative, with present evidence suggesting that these acquaintances first occurred when the composer was twenty-one or twenty-two. As his student routine was traveling to and from a major railroad station in central London, going to the college, to concerts, and elsewhere in the city, he had opportunities to meet black strangers who--given the limited number of black people in London in the 1890s--would surely have been impelled to stop and talk. In particular, the...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
