First Opera Created By A Black Composer To Officially Debut Nearly 140 Years Later

The composer's original manuscript was found in 2020.

The earliest known opera composed by a Black American will finally, officially hit the stage this week after a preview performance in New Orleans.

Edmond Dédé composed Morgiane 138 years ago, but his racial identity prevented the opera from receiving proper staging. The work was considered lost until its manuscript was discovered in the archives at Harvard University in 2020.

The New Orleans performance was at the famed St. Louis Cathedral, which hosted the musician’s baptism in 1828.

OperaCreole contributed to the effort to produce Morgiane, the comedic story of a woman kidnapped and forced to marry a sultan, with her mother coming to her rescue.

“It is with great pride and humility that I would like to say welcome home, Edmond Dédé, welcome home,” OperaCreole’s co-founder Givonna Joseph told CNN.

The recovery and restoration of Dédé’s handwritten work took years. The New Orleans native was born to free Black Americans in 1827. In Crescent City, he learned to compose music at an early age. However, Dédé fled to France due to growing racial restrictions in America.

Racism remains a suspected factor in Dédé’s missing work, which has been unavailable for generations.

“There is this story that we have told that people of color are only now becoming part of the timeline of classical music,” explained Patrick Dupre Quigley, the opera’s conductor and the artistic director designate for the Washington-based Opera Lafayette. “And the reality is that in the United States—in the person of Dédé—Black people were (already) participating in classical music.”

The opera’s sounds will combine instruments of his period and modern versions for a faithful version of Dede’s original vision. The performances also come during as anti-DEI legislation sweeps the nation and potentially stifles the work of diverse creators.

“This is our cultural patrimony that we lost because of a terrible time in our history,” Quigley added. “We must listen to this because if we don’t, we are not having a dialogue with our (American) culture.”

The opera will host performances in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and New York after its preview. Tickets are available on Opera LaFayette’s website.