Avril Coleridge-Taylor

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Gwendolyn Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Avril Coleridge-Taylor.jpg
Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Born Gwendolyn Avril Coleridge-Taylor
(1903-03-08)8 March 1903
South Norwood, London
Died December 21, 1998(1998-12-21)
Language English
Nationality British
Education Trinity College of Music

Gwendolyn Avril Coleridge-Taylor (8 March 1903 – 21 December 1998) was an English pianist, conductor, and composer.

Biography

She was born in South Norwood, London, the daughter of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. She wrote her first composition, Goodbye Butterfly, at the age of twelve. Later, she won a scholarship for composition and piano at Trinity College of Music in 1915, where she was taught by Gordon Jacob and Alec Rowley.[1]

In 1933, she made her debut as a conductor at the Royal Albert Hall. She was then the first female conductor of H.M.S. Royal Marines and a frequent guest conductor of the BBC Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. She was the founder and conductor of both the Coleridge-Taylor Symphony Orchestra and its accompanying musical society in the 1940s as well as the Malcolm Sargent Symphony Orchestra. Her compositions include large-scale orchestral works, as well as songs, keyboard, and chamber music.

In 1957, she wrote the Ceremonial March to celebrate Ghana's independence.[2] Her other well-regarded works include a Piano Concerto in F minor (Sussex Landscape, The Hills, To April, In Memoriam R.A.F.), Wyndore (Windover) for choir and orchestra, and Golden Wedding Ballet Suite for orchestra.

She dropped her first name after a divorce, thereafter going by Avril professionally. She spent her latter life in South Africa, where she lived under apartheid. Originally she was supportive of racial segregation, passing for white.[3] However subsequently she could not work as a composer or conductor because of her one-quarter black African ancestry.[4]

She also wrote under the pseudonym Peter Riley.[5]

Works with opus number

Chamber music

  • Idylle for flute and piano, Op. 21
  • Impromptu for flute and piano, Op. 33
  • A Lament for flute and piano, Op. 31

Keyboard music

  • Impromptu, Op. 9
  • Rhapsody for piano, Op. 174

Orchestral music

  • Sussex Landscape, Op. 27

Songs

  • Goodbye Butterfly, Op. 1
  • Mister Sun, Op. 2
  • Silver Stars, Op. 3
  • Who Knows?, Op. 4
  • April, Op. 5
  • The Dreaming Water Lily, Op. 6
  • The Rustling Grass, Op. 7
  • The Entranced Hour, Op. 8
  • Nightfall, Op. 43
  • Apple Blossom, Op. 44
  • Sleeping and Waking, Op. 45[6]

Sources

  • Cohen, Aaron, International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, New York: Hamish Books & Music, 1981.
  • Hixon, Donald, Women in Music: An Encyclopedic Biobibliography, Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow P, 1993.
  • Sadie, Julie Ann, & Samuel, Rhian, The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, New York: Macmillan, 1995.
  • Sadie, Stanley, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New York: Macmillan, 2001.

References

  1. Sadie, Julie Anne and Rhian Samuel. Eds. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Macmillan: New York, 1995.
  2. ODNB retrieved 26th Jan 2015
  3. "Daughter of Famous Composer Gives OK to S. African Bias", Jet Magazine, 1 December 1955
  4. "Coleridge Taylor", Lost Lives.
  5. Avril Coleridge-Taylor, The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, London: Dobson, 1979 (e.g., p. 154)
  6. Avril Coleridge-Taylor, The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, London: Dobson, 1979, pp. 154-6.

Further reading

  • Coleridge-Taylor, Avril. (1979) The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor . London: Dobson P.

External links