OperaCréole of New Orleans is working to revive the oldest piece created by a Black American, with the help of Opera Lafayette. The two companies are working to produce Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane” for its first-ever live performance.
Nearly a year in the making, the show hopes to shed light on a Black composer in opera whose art never received his due recognition. Dédé’s work was assumed to be forgotten, only to be rediscovered in Harvard’s Houghton Library. In a gift by a former archivist at HBCU Xavier University of Louisiana, OperaCréole has been granted the opportunity to restore the piece for a modern stage rendition. According to Operawire, working with Opera Lafayette, a period instrument opera company, will help ensure that the over 500 pages of music can be transcribed and played for a new audience. The company’s artistic director designate, Patrick Dupre Quigley, spoke of the piece’s “rightful place” in the history of opera in a press release.
“‘Morgiane’ is the most important piece of American music that no one has ever heard,” expressed Quigley. “The American musical community has been deprived of this masterpiece for over 130 years; it is high time that Dédé and his music take their rightful place in the American musical canon.”
Read the source article at Black Enterprise
