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A TV documentary being broadcast this week will shed light on the life of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, who died penniless in Croydon.

In Passions, on Sky Arts, orchestra founder Chi-chi Nwanoku pays tribute to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who overcame extreme racial prejudice to become one of Britain's finest composers.

The episode is being shown at 9pm on Tuesday (November 28) and explores Coleridge-Taylor's extraordinary life, while questioning the ongoing lack of diversity in the world of classical music.

Coleridge-Taylor's father was a Creole physician from Sierra Leone and his mother a white English woman.

(Image: Sky)

He was particularly known for his three cantatas based on the epic poem Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

His fame spread to America and he was invited to the White House in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt, an almost unheard of honour for a man of African descent.

Despite his reputation, composers were not handsomely paid for their music, and often sold the rights to works outright in order to make immediate income.

This caused them to lose the royalties earned by the publishers who had invested in the music distribution through publication.

The popular Hiawatha's Wedding Feast sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but Coleridge-Taylor had sold the music outright for the sum of 15 guineas so did not benefit directly.

He learnt to retain his rights and earned royalties for other compositions after achieving wide renown but always struggled financially.

In 1912, he died penniless in Croydon from pneumonia aged only 37, having just completed his magnificent Violin Concerto in G Minor.

His death is often attributed to the stress of his financial situation.

Angered by the unfair way he had failed to benefit financially from his genius, his musician friends helped set up the Performing Rights Society in 1914 to ensure future artists would receive revenues due for their music.

Today, Chi-Chi's Chineke! Orchestra performs his music with the aim of enhancing Coleridge-Taylor’s reputation as a great British composer.

She cannot believe he is not held in greater acclaim.

“It’s extraordinary that he has been written out of history,” she said.

“The perception that classical music is just for white, middle-class people is a powerful inhibitor for many.

“Is it any wonder that we struggle to encourage a diverse society of musicians today and tomorrow?”

In the show Chi-chi visits Croydon and follows in his footsteps at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall.

She travels to Washington DC where his reputation as a composer gathered momentum and where he became an inspiration for the early civil rights movement.

Along the way she meets his great grandson Paul Dashwood, who keeps the family's archives.

The programme also features young musicians inspired by the composer’s work, including Young Musician of the Year Sheku Kanneh-Mason, his brother Braimah and his sister Isata.

The documentary features special performances of Coleridge-Taylor’s music by members of the Chineke! Orchestra, including Nonet in F Minor, the Clarinet Quintet, Deep River and the Ballade in A Minor.

A blue plaque to this great composer can be found at 6 St Leonard's Road, in Waddon.

Coleridge-Taylor was buried at Bandon Hill Cemetery, in Wallington.