The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor) The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor) The Song of Hiawatha (full name: Scenes from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), Op. 30, is a trilogy of cantatas written by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor between 1898 and 1900. The first part, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, was particularly famous for many years and made the composer's name known throughout the world. "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" consists of nine sections: eight for chorus and orchestra, and one, "Onaway! Awake, beloved!", for solo tenor and orchestra. In 1898, Coleridge-Taylor was fresh from his success with his orchestral "Ballade in A minor", which was performed at the Three
The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor) Choirs Festival of 1898 after Edward Elgar had recommended him as "far and away the cleverest fellow going amongst the younger men". Having been greatly inspired by his reading of Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" (even later naming his own son "Hiawatha"), he decided to set the words to music in a choral work called "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast". The score was completed in May 1898 and was published by Novello before the first performance was given. Interest in "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" was so great from sales of the music that, even before a single note of the work