Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel: Danse Nègre

from African Suite

for Flute Choir

Danse Nègre, from the African Suite by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, arranged for flute choir by Paige Dashner Long. Coleridge spent his childhood in Croydon, Surrey, England, where he studied violin with his grandfather and also sang in the church choir. At 15, he was accepted to the Royal College of Music, where during his second year, he changed his major from violin to composition. At the age of 20, he met the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, who encouraged him to focus on his African heritage. As a result, Coleridge composed his African Suite for piano in 1898, each of the four movements depicting different African experiences.