He's the first Black American to compose a full opera. It's finally being staged after 138 years

CNN

07-02-2025

CNN —
For the briefest of moments, a silence fell over the pews of New Orleans' famed St. Louis Cathedral, as the chapel filled with a collective sense the audience was about to witness history.
They were the first to hear composer Edmond Dédé's opera 'Morgiane' – the earliest known, full-length opera composed by a Black American – more than century after he composed the opus.
The score was thought to have been lost, but a chance discovery of the manuscript in Harvard University's archives presented an opportunity to add Dédé's name to the canon of American composers.
The opening notes of the opera's overture filled the same cathedral where Dédé was baptized in 1828 during a preview performance last Friday, as a part of The Historic New Orleans Collections' Musical Louisiana series.
The opera will stage its world premiere this week in Washington, DC, Maryland and New York.
'It is with great pride and humility that I would like to say welcome home Edmond Dédé, welcome home,' said Givonna Joseph, co-founder of OperaCréole, a nonprofit aimed at discovering and bringing the works of 19th-century New Orleans composers of color to the stage.
'Morgiane' is an opéra comique that tells the story of a young woman who is kidnapped and forced into an engagement with a sultan, and her mother's bid to rescue her.
Joseph told CNN she was among the dozens of people who spent years adapting the manuscript from its original 19th century handwritten notes into modern musical notations.
Patrick Dupre Quigley, the opera's conductor, has described Dédé's work as 'the most important opera never heard.' That is, until now.
'There is this story that we have told that people of color are only now becoming part of the timeline of classical music,' Quigley said. 'And the reality is that in the United States – in the person of Dédé – Black people were (already) participating in classical music.'
He emerged from New Orleans' golden age of opera
Dédé grew up in a New Orleans that resonated with the bel cantos of opera, long before the city became the birthplace of jazz.
Throughout the 19th century, New Orleans was the nation's premiere destination for opera performances, with Italian composers like Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini staging their American premieres at theaters in the city's French Quarter.
Dédé was born during this musical époque in 1827 to parents who were free Black Americans. He learned music from his father, studied under skilled Black composers in New Orleans, and was recognized for his musical prowess from an early age, said Candace Bailey, a musicologist who researches 19th century music in the United States with a focus on the South.
Dédé's talents grew as the country pitched toward the Civil War and the rights of free Black people became more restricted, Bailey said. As tensions rose over slavery, Dédé ultimately fled to France.
The Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, France.
It was there Dédé reached the height of his career. The composer held a prestigious position writing and conducting at the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, and he wrote numerous pieces, Bailey said. He was also an abolitionist who never forgot the plight of the enslaved in the US and in colonies around the world.
'He belonged to the Institute d'Afrique, which was a group of men from around the world who worked to abolish slavery,' Bailey said.
By 1887, Dédé completed the score for his grand opera 'Morgiane.' The handwritten manuscript spans two volumes with more than 500 pages of complicated notations for each instrument in the orchestra.
But the composer would not live to see his life's work come to fruition.
The colossal effort to transcribe Dédé's work
After his death in 1901, Dédé's 'Morgiane' – like many manuscripts of 19th century Black composers – vanished, until by chance, researchers discovered a copy of the score in Harvard's archives.
But finding the manuscript was only the start of a decades-long quest to stage the opera. Over the years, multiple researchers and musicians tried to transcribe the manuscript, but it wasn't until the Covid-19 pandemic that Joseph, Bailey and Quigley began working together.
Quigley, who is also the artistic director designate for the Washington-based Opera Lafayette, said he discovered Dédé and 'Morgiane' in 2020 and decided to stage the opera in honor of the company's 30th anniversary season.
Quigley said he spent years working with several people, including arrangers, editors and musicians, who puzzled through every note for each instrument in the orchestra, transcribed the French libretto, or songbook and paired the lyrics with the score to ultimately create the sheet music.
Further complicating matters, many musical instruments have evolved since the 19th century. Violins, for instance, now use metal strings instead of ones made from animal gut, and some of the instruments noted in the original score are no longer used by modern orchestras.
For the upcoming world premiere, the orchestra will perform on instruments used in the 19th century or ones that have been adapted to emulate their sound, Quigley said.
'We are becoming more and more authentic to the sound world that Edmond would have composed for this piece. Our goal is to be as faithful collaborators with (Dédé's) original team as possible,' he said.
A chance to cement his legacy in America
For the team of musicians, historians and performers bringing Dédé's opera to the stage, the performances are about more than just giving the composer his long-overdue flowers.
Kenneth Kellogg, who plays the sultan, said he didn't hesitate to take on the role because as a Black man, it was a chance to recognize the contributions of African American artists to classical music.
'For historical sake and posterity's sake – and what it means to the culture and Dédé – I'm absolutely on board,' the bass opera singer said. 'But there was also a sense of sadness. In all my years of studying music … Dédé's story never came up.'
It's unclear why records of many of Edmond Dédé's works have been lost through the years or what role racism may have played in erasing his contributions to the classical genre.
The performance has also taken on new meaning amid the attacks on diversity and inclusion and efforts to recognize Black history, Joseph said.
There's 'concerns about pulling things out of the history books,' Joseph said, 'and we've been able to put this before the public at this really important time.'
While Dédé's name and his grand opera were lost to history once, Quigley said they refuse to let it happen again.
'This is our cultural patrimony that we lost because of a terrible time in our history,' he said. 'We must listen to this because if we don't, we are not having a dialogue with our (American) culture.'