Samuel Coleridge-Taylor | |
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![]() Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in 1905 | |
Born | Samuel Coleridge Taylor 15 August 1875 Holborn, London, England |
Died | 1 September 1912 Croydon, Surrey, England | (aged 37)
Alma mater | Royal College of Music |
Occupation(s) | Classical composer and musician |
Spouse | Jessie Walmisley |
Children | Hiawatha and Avril Coleridge-Taylor |
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. Of mixed-race descent, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white musicians in New York City as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s.[1] He was particularly known for his three cantatas on the epic 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 23. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers.[2] Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer-conductor.