Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900-1912 (2013)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900-1912, covers the life of Afro-British classical music composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), from birth to death, concentrating on the years between 1900 and 1912, when his life and his music had a profound effect on music and culture in the United States. The film contains mini documentaries about the lives of American violin virtuoso Maud Powell -- the first Victor recording star -- and American ragtime composer J. Rosamond Johnson, both inspired by and influenced by Coleridge-Taylor. Of note are Powell's transcriptions of Coleridge-Taylor's and J. Rosamond Johnson's settings of African-American spirituals -- performed in the film by contemporary violinist Rachel Barton Pine -- and an in-depth look at the American ragtime period, 1902-1920, with historic photographs.