soon coleridge-taylor became known as a composer. edward elgar helped him get one of his pieces performed at the three choirs festival. two months later stanford conducted the cantata "hiawatha’s wedding feast", the piece for which he is best remembered. he toured the united states in 1904. this made him even more interested in finding out about his racial heritage. he wanted to do for african music what johannes brahms had done for hungarian music and antonín dvořák for bohemian music. he had met the american poet paul laurence dunbar in london and set some of his poems to music. several people encouraged him to learn more about his heritage.