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CELEBRATING SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR
A trailblazing RCM composer turns 150
As we approach the 150th anniversary of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s birthday on 15 August, Upbeat explores his extraordinary legacy and fruitful relationship with the Royal College of Music.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in Holborn, brought up in Croydon, and studied composition at the Royal College of Music with Charles Villiers Stanford.
As RCM Librarian Peter Linnitt explains: ‘We’re celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth and marking his place in the RCM‘s history. He was one of the first really important composers to come through the College’, where he began studies in 1890 aged 15, initially as a violinist – students ‘began as instrumentalists or vocalists, and if they were good enough at harmony and counterpoint they were allowed to join the composition class.
Listen to Peter Linnitt discussing Coleridge-Taylor on BBC Radio 3: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f76d
Coleridge-Taylor studied at the College for seven years, the last five studying composition with Stanford, whose teaching introduced his students to new music. Shortly after Brahms published his Clarinet Quintet it was performed at the College; Stanford then asked his students to write their own clarinet quintets. The result was Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet in F sharp minor. Stanford was so impressed with the work that he took it to his publisher, Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, who published it as Coleridge-Taylor’s op 10. This introduced Coleridge-Taylor’s work to a wider European audience than his earlier works achieved.
Coleridge-Taylor was, as Peter puts it, ‘the first internationally important composer to have studied at the College’. Within a year of leaving College he composed the work for which he is most famous, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Stanford conducted the world premiere at the RCM on 11 November 1898. At the time, the Prince Consort Road building didn’t have a large hall and concerts took place in a metal shed affectionately known as the Tin Tabernacle. The concert was keenly anticipated and oversubscribed with people being turned away at the door. Following the performance, Sir Arthur Sullivan noted in his diary: ‘Much impressed by the lad‘s genius. He is a composer, not a musicmaker. The music is fresh and original – he has melody and harmony in abundance, and his scoring is brilliant and full of colour – at times luscious, rich and sensual.’ The critics were overwhelmingly positive about the work – but not the Tin Tabernacle. The College had already made plans to build a new concert hall, but the reviews accelerated their resolve; within three years the new concert hall was built.
Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was published by Novello, overseen by August Jaeger (Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’), who hailed Coleridge-Taylor as ‘a genius’. Elgar meanwhile insisted that the Three Choirs Festival commission a work from the young composer: ‘I wish, wish, wish you would ask Coleridge-Taylor to do it… he is far and away the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men.’
For College staff, students and alumni, Coleridge-Taylor‘s legacy continues to be felt.
The RCM holds the largest collection of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor manuscripts which, as Peter explains, ‘were gifted to us by his widow Jessie and children Hiawatha and Avril.’ In 2022, Assistant Librarian Jonathan Frank found amongst this collection an entirely new discovery: ‘We believe we received the manuscript for Nourmahal’s Song in 1984 as part of a large collection compiled by Hiawatha Coleridge-Taylor. It was then filed away as Nourmahal’s Song and Dance – because Coleridge-Taylor did publish a work of that name in 1900, but that’s a work for solo piano. This is a work for voice and piano. Nobody had any reason to question that until 2022 when we received an enquiry about this piano work and had reason to dig it out from the archive and look at it, and realised this was an entirely different piece. That’s when I got out all the biographies and lists and realised it’s not in any of these books. We’d discovered something quite special.’ A recording soon followed, as well as a live performance featuring RCM musicians.
The RCM Library provided access to manuscripts for a new recording project spearheaded by Historical Bass professor Carina Cosgrave: an album of Coleridge-Taylor‘s Nonet and two of his Novelletten arranged for string quintet, recorded on historical instruments by the Sabi Ensemble for Penny Fiddle records. Carina explains: ‘As I heard more of his music I was curious about this person. How did someone who achieved such high levels of success in both England and America, especially for the time, disappear from concert halls for decades?’ Of the project, she adds: ‘The recording process was a revelation. It was invaluable to have the manuscripts made available to us. Historical instruments and practices provide another way into this music – we get a little closer to the sound-worlds he was writing for.’
Research into the Coleridge-Taylors is being undertaken by RCM PhD student Tom Edney, who has edited Avril Coleridge-Taylor‘s work. He says, ‘Avril Coleridge-Taylor tirelessly advocated for her father’s music, conducting many performances of it across the globe. That his 150th birthday is being celebrated so publicly would certainly please her.’ Tom’s edition of Avril Coleridge-Taylor’s Comet Prelude was conducted by RCM conductor Sam Scheer in Croydon following collaboration between Croydon Music & Arts and RCM researcher Dr Sarah K Whitfield. Sarah says, ‘bringing Avril’s music back to Croydon was an incredible experience; hearing this magical piece was profoundly moving.’ Meanwhile, RCM recorder professor Sarah Jeffery recently arranged and recorded Coleridge-Taylor‘s song Beauty and Song for recorder, published by Schott. RCM Junior Department musicians recently performed Coleridge-Taylor‘s Novelletten, JD violinist and leader Peter Ryan saying: ‘Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelletten are four miniatures full of elegance and spirit. I particularly enjoyed the fourth movement because of the relentless momentum, energy and rhythmic drive. We loved performing this work and we hope there will be more opportunities to explore his music in the future.’ There will indeed be opportunities to experience Coleridge-Taylor‘s music within College soon, with a number of performances of his music programmed for the forthcoming academic year. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor‘s star is shining bright once more.
Joanna Wyld RCM Publications & Content Officer
