African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who died at the age of 37 in 1912, was known during his lifetime mostly for big choral pieces that were favorites on both sides of the Atlantic (African-Americans called him the "black Mahler"), but are of a type not so beloved these days. Recent years have seen a rediscovery of his smaller works, many of which are fascinating. Witness this absolutely groundbreaking set of 24 "Negro Melodies," partly the product of Coleridge-Taylor's encounters with the works of African ...
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African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who died at the age of 37 in 1912, was known during his lifetime mostly for big choral pieces that were favorites on both sides of the Atlantic (African-Americans called him the "black Mahler"), but are of a type not so beloved these days. Recent years have seen a rediscovery of his smaller works, many of which are fascinating. Witness this absolutely groundbreaking set of 24 "Negro Melodies," partly the product of Coleridge-Taylor's encounters with the works of African-American writers W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. The set is divided into sections covering "Southeast Africa," "South Africa," "West Africa," the "West Indies," and finally "America," which takes up the last part of the first disc and all of the second. The African melodies are not drawn on Coleridge-Taylor's own Sierra Leonean background but are taken mostly from early ethnomusicological collections. Nevertheless, the whole idea of the album was startling enough for 1905, when...
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