Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR, SAMUEL (1875-1912), musical composer, was born in London at 15 Theobalds Road, Holborn, 15 August 1875. His father, Dr. Paul Taylor, was a native of Sierra Leone. He was brought up by his mother, Alice née Hare, at Croydon, where he lived practically all his life and where he died. His mother was poor, and Coleridge-Taylor’s education began at an elementary school where his musical ability was sufficiently evident for the schoolmaster to get him admitted into the choir of St. George’s Presbyterian church, Croydon. Education might have gone no farther but for the interest of Colonel Herbert Walters, who discovered the boy’s talent, removed him into the choir of St. Mary’s church, Addiscombe, and in 1891 sent him as a student of the violin to the Royal College of Music. Here he came under the notice of (Sir) Charles Villiers Stanford, who advised him to take to composition as his principal study. In 1893 he won a scholarship at the College. He held it for four years, and during that time gained general recognition as one of the most talented of young composers. Over twenty of his works were first heard at College concerts, including a string quartet in D minor, a clarinet quintet (which so greatly impressed Joseph Joachim that he led a performance of it in Berlin in 1897), a nonet for piano, wind, and strings, and three movements of a symphony in A minor. As a composition pupil of Stanford, Coleridge-Taylor was firmly grounded in the classics, but even in these student days his highest admiration was given to the music of Dvorak, whom he loved to extol above Brahms. Spontaneity of melody, piquancy of rhythm, and glowing colour meant more to him than the subtle intellectualities of the great Germans.
Coleridge-Taylor had surrendered his scholarship when, on 11 November 1898, the concert was given, at the College, which produced his ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’ and made him famous. Sir Hubert Parry wrote (Musical Times, October 1912): ‘It had got abroad in some unaccountable and mysterious manner that something of unusual interest was going to happen, and when the time came or the concert the “tin tabernacle” (i.e. the temporary concert hall of the Royal College of Music) was besieged by eager crowds, a large proportion of whom were shut out, but accommodation was found for Sir Arthur Sullivan and other musicians of eminence. Expectation was not disappointed, and “Hiawatha” started on a career which, when confirmed by the production of “The Death of Minnehaha” at the North Staffordshire festival in the following year (1899) and of a final section by the Royal Choral Society in 1900, established it as one of the most universally beloved works of modern English music.’
The production of the whole work by the Royal Choral Society at the Albert Hall on 22 March 1900 set the seal on Coleridge-Taylor’s unique achievement, and he was asked to compose for one festival after another. But he could never find another book with just that simplicity of narrative, that naive human interest combined with exotic imagery, which made Longfellow his ideal partner in song. ‘The Blind Girl of Castel Cuillé’ (Leeds 1901), ‘Meg Blane’ (Sheffield 1902), and an oratorio ‘The Atonement’ (Hereford 1903) were all failures in comparison with ‘Hiawatha’. The only later choral work which came near to that ideal fitness between words and music was ‘A Tale of Old Japan’ (London 1911). Here a poem by Alfred Noyes provided the composer with a story and an ‘atmosphere’, the two things which he needed from words. The stage offered a similar impetus to his genius, and the incidental music which he wrote to a series of plays by Stephen Phillips [q.v.], produced at His Majesty’s Theatre—Herod 1900, Ulysses 1902, Nero 1906, Faust 1908—was successful because of his power of giving vivid musical characterization to externals. The personal factor, too, was easily recognizable in his purely instrumental music from the early ballade in A minor to the ‘Othello’ suite, the ‘Hiawatha’ ballet music (distinct from the cantata), and the violin concerto, which were among his latest works. The ‘catchy’ rhythmic phrase and its repetition in varied tones, the capacity for indulging unrestrainedly in the simple human emotions of joy and sorrow without reflection and without cant, are the qualities which come from his negro ancestry.
In appearance and manners Coleridge-Taylor was very much of his father’s race. There was a sweetness and modesty of nature which was instantly lovable. Success made him happy but he was easily cast down. He had little power of self-criticism, but sometimes he would accept the criticism of others too readily. In his student days on one occasion when his work had been sharply criticized by his teacher, the manuscript was found by a fellow-student thrown aside in the waiting-room of the College as not worth carrying home. It was only after his best work had been done that he conceived a desire to study African negro music and to become its apostle by composing works on native folk themes. His later publications show that he did this to a considerable extent, but it is noteworthy that after having planned the violin concerto which he wrote for the Norfolk (Connecticut) festival on these lines, he redrafted it in a more original style. His visits to America no doubt did something to awaken his racial sentiment, though he was received there, especially by his host, Mr. Carl Stoeckel, in the most warm and generous spirit. He was also stimulated in this direction by the example of Dvořák’s group of works ‘From the New World’, but he lacked the stamina to become the leader of a movement. His compositions amount to 82 opus numbers, with many to which no number is assigned, and amongst them there is much that is ephemeral. But ‘Hiawatha’ holds its own, and twenty-five years after its production it was given in the form of a pageant opera in the arena of the Albert Hall (19 May 1924 and again in 1925), the composer’s son, Hiawatha Coleridge-Taylor, taking part as conductor of the ballet.
Coleridge-Taylor married in 1899 Jessie, daughter of Major Walter Walmisley, a member of the same family as the composer and organist, Thomas Forbes Walmisley [q.v.], and the musician, Thomas Attwood Walmisley [q.v.]. There were two children of the marriage, the son Hiawatha, and a daughter. Coleridge-Taylor died 1 September 1912.
[W. C. Berwick Sayers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Musician; his Life and Letters, 1915; Musical Times, March 1909 and October 1912; Manuscript catalogue of compositions, by J. H. Smithers Jackson (Croydon Public Libraries); published compositions; private information; personal knowledge.]