Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation
SCTF Editor
Tiki Black: Inspiration from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Tiki Black, songwriter, performer, composer writes a personal account about Samuel Coleridge-Taylor from her perspective. Continue reading
Queries about “O Ye That Love The Lord”
Jon Larimore writes: This coming Sunday our choir is presenting Coleridge-Taylor’s “O Ye That Love The Lord”. I’m wondering when this anthem was composed and if it was part of a larger work by Coleridge-Taylor, what that work might be? I found a wealth of information,
Video: Angela Brown sings “The Stars”
Charles Kaufmann writes: You may be interested in seeing the YouTube video I’ve just posted featuring soprano Angela Brown singing with our orchestra a song by Coleridge-Taylor, “The Stars,” which is a setting of a poem by his friend Kathleen Easmon Simango. Noteworthy about this video are the two images of the original manuscript of … Continue reading
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: a musical life by Jeffrey Green – a review by Dominique-Rene de Lerma
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: a musical life by Jeffrey Green Dr Dominique-Rene de Lerma writes: Over more than three decades, English historian Jeffrey Green has presented a series of discoveries on Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), an English composer who did not follow his contemporaries into British folk music but instead responded to a yearning for Africa, the homeland of … Continue reading
Notes: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Network Newletter updates
Sean Creighton writes: Newsletters 7 and 8 of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Network are now posted on the Network’s website.
Premiere of Thelma, review by SCTF patron Daniel Labonne
Daniel Labonne (previously Croydon SC-T Society artistic director) attended the premiere by Surrey Opera of Thelma at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, and sent us this exclusive review. Continue reading
Reviews of Thelma, the premiere
Read Robert Eichert’s review of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s opera Thelma by Surrey Opera. Their recent performance was a world premiere of a work that has lain hidden away until work by Catherine Carr rediscovered it and brought it to the attention of the world at large. We’ve gathered together a range of other on-line reviews here as well. Continue reading
Notes: Tom Service of the Guardian writes on SC-T and Thelma
Tom Service of The Guardian has posted an article in his Classical Music blog, discussing the SC-T opera Thelma, to be premiered in Croydon today.
Notes: Articles in anticipation of the premiere of ‘Thelma’, the opera
Media anticipation of the premiere (on 9 February 2012) of Coleridge-Taylor’s opera Thelma includes this range of articles and postings, as below. Please share also any other articles about this premiere of which you know, via the Comments box which follows this list. Thank you.
Notes: ‘The Loves of Mars and Venus’ ballet music of 1717 – another ‘lost’ score refound
Evelyn Nallen writes: Next week in Cambridge is a concert of the music from the very first ballet, ‘The Loves of Mars and Venus’ (1717), which like ‘Thelma’ was thought to be lost.
Notes: Radio 4 ‘Front Row’ discusses SC-T
Mike Somervell writes: Tonight coming home from work I heard the ‘Front Row’ trailer on Radio 4 which said it was discussing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor the musician………so naturally thought of you! Follow this BBC iPlayer link for the Front Row SC-T piece. They talk about Coleridge-Taylor and about Thelma being performed in Croydon.
Notes: Robert Eichert on children, education and Coleridge-Taylor
Robert Eichert writes: I could not agree more about SC-T’s music telling a story and there can also be interesting background to the music. Obviously, there is Hiawatha, faithfully keeping to Longfellow’s epic poem about love and loss among native Americans.
A radio programme-maker asks: Do you recall ‘Hiawatha’ at the Albert Hall, or elsewhere?
Andrew Green writes: Can you help? In this, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s centenary legacy year (2012), I’ll be fulfilling a long-held ambition to make a radio programme focusing on the famous Albert Hall ‘Hiawatha’ performances of the 1920s and 30s – the high-point in Coleridge-Taylor’s recognition as a composer of real worth. My task now is to find as many … Continue reading
‘Thelma’, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s only full-length opera, performed at last
Jonathan Butcher writes: Up until 1900 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (born in 1875) had had little to do with composing for the theatre. His main body of work was choral and orchestral and, of course, his most famous opus, and the one that catapulted him to fame, was his major oratorio, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. His involvement with the theatre, though Herbert Beerbohm Tree, with all its colourful characters, magic and intrigue, may well have been the very spark Coleridge-Taylor needed to spur him on to write his only full length opera. Continue reading
Notes: Andrew Tait on SCT Chamber Concert, 28 Jan 2012
Andrew Tait writes: I would like to bring to your attention some concert details for your list of events in this special year. Andrew Tait and Friends Saturday 28th Jan 2012
‘Hiawatha’ at the Liverpool Philharmonic, 19 November 2011 (Culture Pod Visit)
Richard Gordon-Smith writes: Event 1 of the Curious Minds ’Culture Pod’* A visit led, and here reported, by composer Richard Gordon-Smith, to hear the RLPO perform Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. The first Pod’s outing on our odyssey through the culture of creativity began at a restaurant, followed by a concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, where the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra … Continue reading
Notes: Toby Lyles on William Grant Still WKCR-FM Concert
Toby Lyles writes: The music of composer William Grant Still was featured on the “Saturday Night at the Opera playlist of 01/21/2012″ of Columbia University’s WKCR-FM. Still admired and was influenced by the works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Christmas Overture’
Looking for five minutes of orchestral Christmas music which includes all the old favourite carols? Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Christmas Overture is probably just the ticket. Amongst the easily recognisable Christmas carol themes encompassed in the Overture are God rest you merry gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas and Hark the herald angels sing. Arranged by Sydney Baynes (best remembered for his Destiny Waltz) in … Continue reading
Queries: Limited instrumentation works by SCT?
I would love to be able to include at least one of Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s works in celebration of his centenary. The problem is that I am limited to a classical size orchestra (2222 4200, timps, strings).
Notes: Luke Green on ‘By the Waters of Babylon’
Luke Green writes: My choir in Australia learned the beautiful ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ as an anthem. Really touching music.
Notes: Cumbria Choral Initiative SCT Concert, 28 July 2012
On July 28th 2012 the Cumbria Choral Initiative is to perform the entire Song of Hiawatha as the opening concert for the Lake District Summer Music Festival in the Coronation Hall in Ulverston, Cumbria. We are excited about this project, designed to coincide with SCT’s centenary year.
Notes: Chumki Banerjee on ‘discovering’ Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Chumki Banerjee writes about The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation: Uncovering long lost musical jewels, the quest continues
SCTF hears ‘Hiawatha’ at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (19 November 2011)
The opportunity to hear Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is not to be missed; so Saturday 19 November 2011 saw a gathering of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation enthusiasts in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall for that very purpose. Indeed, one or two stalwarts were even brave enough to sport the ’Native American’ accoutrements by … Continue reading
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s early chamber works – discovering the Piano Quintet op.1
Ten years ago today (7 November 2001) was the first performance in living memory of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Piano Quintet, op.1. The work was part of a lunchtime recital programme by players from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, from a score discovered and prepared from the original by Martin Anthony (‘Tony’) Burrage, an RLPO violonist, and director of … Continue reading
“I want to be nothing in the world except what I am – a musician.” (Discovering ‘Thelma’, Coleridge-Taylor’s only opera)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s sole opera, Thelma (Op.72), was composed in 1907-09, but only in the past few years has it been given any serious consideration. Here Dr Catherine Carr recounts how she came to learn of the opera. She also shares some insights into the research she undertook to bring Thelma to life, and tells us about some of her many fascinating discoveries concerning this centrally important and hitherto neglected work…. Continue reading
Recalling my Father’s reminiscences on Hiawatha
Richard Gordon-Smith writes: My father David Gordon-Smith* was born in 1915. In the very class-conscious (by today’s standards) 1920s and ’30s my father’s parents would have been considered ‘lower middle class’. Their cultural aspirations included occasional theatre and concert attendance, musical evenings in their home for friends, participation in amateur operatic performances and the acquisition of … Continue reading
Jeffrey Green: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a Musical Life
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a Musical Life is to be published in June/July 2011. It was written by historian Jeffrey Green. Jeffrey Green tells SCTF that by using copious contemporary comments, different aspects of the composer have been documented. Green’s discoveries over the completion and premiere of Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast may surprise many. The “first black” influence … Continue reading
Patrick Meadows, publisher of SC-T scores: an interview with myself
Patrick Meadows writes: During my tenure as Director Artístico of the Deià Festival in Mallorca between 1978 and 2008, every year, about the time the concerts were to begin, at least once and often several times, someone from the newspapers, radio, and TV requested an interview. We were always grateful for the resultant publicity, but … Continue reading
Engagement, Education And Enjoyment Together
Quite a lot of Coleridge-Taylor’s music tells a story, or refers to an interesting ‘real’ idea. This music frequently employs attractive rhythms and lively tunes, as well as demonstrating very well the more formal aspects of composition. Is there scope here for developing musical activities which offer both education and enjoyment, especially for those not … Continue reading
Working with Coleridge-Taylor’s Music in the ‘Community’
Are there special ways in which the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor can be used to bring people together? Does this depend on both the audience and the personal preferences of the performers, or should all music, regardless of the individual experience of the composer, be seen in the same way? There is probably some resonance … Continue reading
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor on Google
- Radcliffe fellow interprets poetry through song May 14, 2013
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: For His Times and Ours | The Black Past ... May 12, 2013
- BlackPast.org: 'Hilary Burrage...of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ... May 12, 2013
- AfriClassical Samuel ColeridgeTaylor Historian Round Table in ... May 10, 2013
- Teacher Appreciation Week | Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Montessori ... May 10, 2013
Articles from William J Zick’s Africlassical website
- Sergio Mims: "Duke Ellington's 'Queenie Pie' to be performed at the Chicago Opera Theater next season" May 18, 2013
- 50th Anniversary Update: Zanaida Robles to sing three songs from Coretta Scott King's July 10, 1959 Concert program at the Dayton Art Institute. May 18, 2013
- Harlem Chamber Players: Please Help Cellist Dave Gotay Fight Cancer May 18, 2013
- Harlem Chamber Players: This Sunday at 3: "Appalachian Spring" Concert May 18, 2013
- Empire Opera Presents Reading & Reception of 'Attila' by Giuseppe Verdi on Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 4 PM May 17, 2013
