On June 5, 1897, Paul Laurence Dunbar was in England for a recital tour and to find an English publisher for his book Lyrics of Lowly Life. He took part in a literary and musical performance in London with the Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Both rising young stars in their respective fields, they collaborated on an opera called Dream Lovers, and Coleridge-Taylor set several of Paul's poems to music.
An unusually interesting, not to say unique, invitation recital was given on June 5th, at the Salle Erard, by two gentlemen who described themselves as, respectively, "Anglo-African" and "Afro-American" -- Messrs. Coleridge-Taylor and Dunbar. The musical part of the program was from the pen of Mr. Coleridge-Taylor, the song-lyrics being the work of Mr. Dunbar, who also recited a number of his own poems. With regard to the latter, although the humorous verses and those in "Negro dialect" found most favor with the audience, many of the serious ones were distinguished by delightfully quaint fancies.
"Miscellaneous Musical Items." Monthly Music Record (London, England). July 1897. Page 161.
Admirers of "national" music should have flocked to the Salle Erard on the 5th, when that remarkable young composer, Mr. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who is of partly African descent, gave a concert, interspersed with recitations by the gifted young Negro poet, Mr. Paul Dunbar. Mr. Taylor, while still a student, reflects neither his teachers' nor anybody else's music, such a case being, perhaps, without precedent in the history of our art. That the element of beauty, as we understand it, seems as yet somewhat dormant in his music need not be insisted upon; for the young composer will doubtless develop in that as in other respects. Some of his latest songs do, in fact, already show a great improvement in this regard, his setting of a "Corn Song" by Mr. Dunbar, to name but one, being full of a fresh beauty that haunts the memory.
"Mr. S. Coleridge-Taylor's Concert." The Musical Times and Singing-Class Circular (London, England). July 1, 1897. Page 465.
In a letter to his fiancée Alice Ruth Moore in Brooklyn, Paul described an earlier collaboration with Coleridge-Taylor in London, and he was enthusiastic in his praise of the composer.
I too have been ill and am still far from well. But my illness did not hinder me from reciting last night and making a most astounding success. The composer as you will see had set six of my songs and they were beautifully sung. I was especially delighted with my success last night as was also my friend the composer who is a perfect genius. I am now trying to get him to set the words "Alice" which I shall send to you.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, April 23, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).