Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (again, NOT Taylor-Coleridge) must have been a serious wunderkind to have been noticed by Edward Elgar and C. V. Stanford, two of England’s best-known Victorian Imperial composers. He wrote this “Ballade for Orchestra” for the famous Three Choirs Festival when he was 20; the maturity of this composition puts the genius of Coleridge-Taylor on par with Mendelssohn (who wrote his famous “Midsummer Night’s Dream” overture at 17).

Sorry, hippies. Somebody beat you to it.

Justin Holland (1819-1887), was a civil-rights activist, moving around the same circles as Frederic Douglass. He worked with whites to free slaves in the Underground Railroad. Oh yeah, and he also played a mean guitar.

He became nationally known for his guitar method books – his approach to teaching was considered very conservative for the time (sorry, hippies; I guess he was a square). And, while not a composer himself, he was famous for arranging famous works of other composers, including this one, which includes some popular tunes from Carl Maria von Weber‘s opera, Oberon.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – not to be confused with Samuel Taylor-Coleridge. They’re both English. They’re both artists. But SCT was a black composer, and STC was a white poet.

Coleridge-Taylor’s musical career was skyrocketing when he died (like so many great composers) in his 30s. Thankfully, in his 37 years, he left a legacy of works that have earned him his nickname, “The African Mahler.”