Composer of the Week: Coleridge-Taylor

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Migrated podcast image for: Composer Of The Week

Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): Steal Away

Steal Away

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), Steal Away

Donald Macleod reflects on Coleridge-Taylor’s premature death and his legacy.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Today, the dramatic story of his premature death, at the age of 37, and the renewed impact of his legacy.

Donald Macleod reflects on Coleridge-Taylor’s premature death and the renewed impact of his legacy.

At the turn of the 20th century, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor could have been described as the most famous Black person in Britain. His cantata trilogy, the Song of Hiawatha, was an overnight success, and by the age of 25 he had packed out the Royal Albert Hall with a thousand performers, let alone the audience. His fame took him all around Britain and America as choral societies from Worcester to Washington DC all wanted to sing his music, and Coleridge-Taylor became a role-model, especially for African Americans. But tragically, just over a decade later, he would be dead. He remained a household name into the 1930s, only for his flame to flicker out much sooner than he deserved. All this week, Donald re-visits his fascinating story, with recordings predominantly released in the last five years, showing how excited today's performers are to rediscover his delightful music. 

Today, Coleridge-Taylor collapses suddenly on a train platform, at the age of only 37. Donald tells the nerve-wracking story of the ensuing days, and what would be the composer’s final moments. We hear about the overwhelming impact he had had on those that knew and looked up to him, only for his legacy to fall out of our collective memory for decades, until a new generation of musicians has brought his music back into the light.

Big Lady Moon
Elizabeth Llewellyn, soprano
Simon Lepper, piano

Summer is gone
The Lee Shore
The Ionian Singers
Timothy Salter, conductor

Violin Concerto, Op 80 (ii. Andante semplice; iii. Allegro molto)
Lorraine McAslan, violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor

Hiawatha’s Departure (excerpt)
Bryn Terfel, baritone
Welsh National Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Kenneth Alwyn, conductor

Deep River (arr. Kanneh-Mason Trio)
The Kanneh-Mason Trio


Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Cardiff

Composer of the Week: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod presents an in-depth survey of the life and work of this week's composer.

Donald Macleod presents an in-depth survey of the life and work of this week's composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Composer of the Week

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Steal Away

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3