Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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[Preliminary Entry] Born in 1875 in Croydon, London, Coleridge-Taylor was a widely renowned composer of classical music. His father was a doctor from Sierra Leone who left England and returned to Africa around the time of his son’s birth – henceforth the young Coleridge-Taylor was raised by his English mother, Alice Hare, and later his steptather. In 1898 he produced the two works which were to ensure his rise to fame. These were

Ballade in A Minor

, commisioned at the suggestion of Elgar for the Three Choirs Festival of that year, and the musical

Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast

, which set to music verses from the

The Song of Hiawatha

by the poet Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. Some of his subsequent work derived its inspiration from traditional “Negroe Spirituals”, and he saw himself as…

296 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 August 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5961, accessed 29 March 2024.]

5961 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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