Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
“If it was fiction you wouldn’t believe this stirring story. A mixed race gifted
composer, with the most English of names, makes his mark against the odds and yet,
like so many other such geniuses, is brought down, too, too soon. All should know
the legend that was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Most don’t and that’s the greatest pity
of all.”
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (leading commentator on race and multiculturalism; writing regularly
for the Guardian, New Statesman and London Observer and broadcasting on BBC Radio
4 and World Service).
Norman Lebrecht
“It’s an incredibly human story which, in my view, would translate extremely well
to film.’ Norman Lebrecht - cultural commentator, award-winning novelist, Assistant
Editor of the London Evening Standard and presenter of Lebrecht Live on BBC Radio
3.
David McVicar
“Charles Elford has written a lucid and touching account of Coleridge-Taylor's life.
A book that deals as much with the social history of Edwardian Britain as it does
with music and the art of this unjustly neglected Composer."
David McVicar, highly acclaimed international opera and theatre director.
School Librarian Journal
“This story is well worth exploring... with many implications and much relevance
in terms of today.... A hidden treasure.”
Intermix
“Black Mahler: The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Story is a well researched dramatisation
of the life of an important composer and mixed-race icon. Charles Elford paints a
very real picture of a very modest man, who tried to please everyone except himself.
Against a backdrop of Edwardian England we follow Samuel from his childhood in Croydon
to manhood as a celebrated but underpaid composer, oblivious to the racism and bigotry
that keeps him so poor he must work himself to death. Elford has succeeded in bringing
Samuel to life to such an extent that readers can't fail to be moved by the emotional
traumas that weave their way through his story. It will make you want to go out and
buy everything this mixed-race young man ever composed, just to immerse yourself
in his essence, to feel what he felt as he penned Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast and to
hear what thousands heard and were moved by, a century ago.”
Black History Month
“...Read it and then listen to Coleridge-Taylor’s music.” Black History 365
Click here to see what the UK’s official Black History Month website said about ‘Black
Mahler: The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Story’
Michigan Citizen
Click here to see what the Michigan Citizen said about ‘Black Mahler: The Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor Story’
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s grandson
‘It was wonderful reading and towards the end I just could not put it down. It was
like being at home in that house again. I could picture it room by room. The imagination
on Charles Elford’s part was incredible; because everything was so absolutely accurate
in every detail. I wondered where he got his information from. It was more than just
a pleasure it was like going back in time.” Mr N Dashwood, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s
grandson, 03/10/08
The British Black Mahler
The subtitle of this book by Charles Elford is ‘The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Story’,
and I must be forgiven for thinking it was about the author of ‘The Ancient Mariner’.
But the hero in fact was a household name in his day but is now mostly forgotten.
An English composer (1875-1912), born to a white mother and black father, raised
in Croydon, and who became a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic for his massive
choral trilogy ‘The Song of Hiawatha’, from which ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’ still
features sporadically in the repertoire. It reads like a novel – it is a dramatisation
of its subject’s life - and offers a vivid impression of the cultural milieu in which
Coleridge, as his friends called him, found himself. He was ‘discovered’ as a small
boy playing marbles in the street with a tiny violin at his side at a time when there
were only a handful of black people living in London. Having been tutored at the
Royal College of music by Charles Villiers Stanford, he was recognised early on by
Sir Edward Elgar as a serious rival. Following the extraordinary success of ‘Hiawatha’,
he travelled to the U.S. where he was welcomed by huge crowds, feted as an icon by
black musicians and singers, and greeted admiringly by the President himself, the
first time a black person had received this accolade. Unfortunately, the composer
sold the rights to ‘Hiawatha’ for a pittance before it became a sensational success,
but even despite further high-profile disasters he remained unaffected by bitterness
right up to his premature death in 1912. The story is framed by an account of the
1932 concert of ‘Hiawatha’ at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Malcolm Sargent
with the involvement of two and a half thousand participants. It is for the vivid
descriptions of such London locations as the Royal Albert Hall, the Theatre Royal
Drury Lane, and the Crystal Palace, that the book will be particularly evocative
for London Blue Badge Guides. The book is in fact available at the RAH as well as
from the usual sources: Amazon, Blackwell, Waterstones. Having approached this book
with mild curiosity I came to find that it reveals a life that is truly inspirational.
More information can be found on the website: www.blackmahler.com Colin Street for
‘Guidelines’ (Association of Professional Tourist Guides, www.touristguides.org.uk)
September 2008.
Brilliant!
“I have lived in Croydon for most of my 75 years and the thing that astounded me
is the amount of accurate period detail. Things like: Watha running a stick along
the cast iron railings, candles to see to go upstairs at night, horse-trams, steam
engines, horse manure in the road etc. Brilliant! Charles Elford has a gift for imagining
the events and the idea of the later Sir Malcolm Sargent performance as a link was
also a brilliant idea. I think this book has done a great service not only to Coleridge-Taylor
but also to Croydon – and I recommend it to as many people as I can.” K Harman.
"A fascinating insight into a forgotten genius." Joanna Bolton, Oxfordshire, UK.
A great read! Go buy it!
“Having not known about Coleridge-Taylor before reading this book, I certainly do
now. What an amazing life he had in so few years before his death. This book is well
written and I would recommend it to all. It really makes you think about how composers
struggle to make ends meet, and yet triumph in a world so focused on making money.”
Chris, Scotland.
A true story brought to life in a fictional format
“This is truly wonderful - it's such a witty and moving novel, full of colour and
light and interesting characters and events, that a reader could forget that this
is actually all based on historical fact. Amazing also that the book's subject -
Samuel Coleridge Taylor - is not rather more famous than he currently appears to
be. Charles Elford has given us a vignette of the past that resonates with the present
through the power of its compassion and its wonderfully conceived characters and
relationships. A must-read!” Dr B Twisselmann, London.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor story brought to life
“This book is a fantastic read! It is really interesting to find out about Samuel
Coleridge Taylor who previously to reading this book, I knew very little about. He
was such a talented musician and yet is relatively unknown in the UK. It is a very
sad story in places yet a real page turner as you want to know what is going to happen
next to him. It is easy to read and even if you aren't interested in his music, it
is fascinating to read his life story with it's many ups and downs. My favourite
part was when Samuel goes to the USA for the first time and finally comes to realise
just how much he means to black Americans there. There are a few unexpected twists
and turns in the book and I would thoroughly recommend this as a really good read.”
R. V. Sellwood, Faversham, UK.
Thank you
“I was thrilled to find the website for your book Black Mahler just in time. I’d
been planning a set of music lessons for all the classes in the primary school where
I teach. We were having a special week of activities for Black History Month and
my music lessons were to be based on the life of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The quote
at the bottom of the home page by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was what I used to start off
every lesson, so that the children I was teaching knew that they would be some of
those who would know about the amazing life of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. My husband,
seeing how much I'd got into learning about his life, in preparation for the lessons,
bought your book for me as a surprise. I couldn't put it down! It was a sheer joy
to read more of the people I already knew a bit about from the small bit of research
I’d done and the bits I knew nothing about. It just served to heighten my admiration
for this wonderful man whose life and music should be remembered far far longer than
it has been. Thank you so much for writing this brilliant book.” Becca (London).
A very human story and a good read
“Who would have thought of anything exciting coming out of Croydon at the turn of
the 20th century? It's a great story of a genius shining amongst his contemporaries
despite being given a bad hand to play. His music was eagerly anticipated and applauded
across the World, yet nowadays his name is almost unknown in his native land. Let's
hope Charles Elford's celebratory book helps rekindle interest in this man and his
work. Meanwhile buy it for a good read!” Julian, London.
