Page 17 - CJJuneJuly25
P. 17
Celebrating Legacy and Unity:
The Enduring Influence of
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s
Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast
VINROY D. BROWN, JR.
amuel Coleridge-Taylor, ers. During his three visits to the
who passed away prema- United States, he was warmly re-
S turely at age thirty-seven, ceived, even meeting President
left behind nearly one hundred Theodore Roosevelt at the White
works for voice and instruments, House—an unusual honor for a
with Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast Black artist at the time. His legacy
standing out as one of his most endures as a composer who broke
celebrated compositions. As a racial barriers and inspired future
mixed-race composer of English generations of Black musicians.
and Sierra Leonean descent, he Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast pre-
was both celebrated and chal- miered in 1898 to immediate
lenged during his lifetime. In the international acclaim, earning
United States, African Amer- praise from the leading com-
ican communities embraced posers and critics of the era.
Coleridge-Taylor, viewing him Coleridge-Taylor’s success was
as a powerful symbol of Black grounded in his distinctive musi-
excellence in the classical music cal voice, which synthesized rich
world. Despite facing racial prej- European harmonies with rhyth-
udice, he achieved prominence in mic elements reflective of his own
classical music, as evidenced by diverse cultural background. This
his vast output and fame during unique blend made him a promi-
a time when the field was large- nent figure in the late nineteenth
ly dominated by white compos- and early twentieth centuries.
CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2025 Volume 65 Number 9 15
