A ‘Mind-Blowing’ Premiere, 130 Years Later

The late 19th century was the golden age of opera, with Wagner, Puccini and Verdi writing scores that are still identifiable even to people who don’t know a buffa from a seria. But the glow of the era didn’t extend to all composers—and now, the University of Maryland is taking a leading role in bringing a never-before-heard score to the stage.

In February, composer Edmond Dédé’s 1887 opera “Morgiane, or the Sultan of Ispahan” will complete a three-city world premiere tour at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Together with companies OperaCréole and Opera Lafayette, UMD will present the French-language work, the oldest extant complete opera composed by an African American.

“Its premiere after 130 years is mind-blowing,” says Terry Dwyer, executive director of The Clarice. “It’s such an exciting project artistically, socially and historically.”

Born to a free Black family in New Orleans in 1827, Dédé was musically inclined from a young age, playing both clarinet and violin. He studied music theory and worked as a cigar maker to earn enough to travel to Europe. In the late 1850s, he settled in France, where he lived for the rest of his life, writing and performing music.

“We are trying to get him his place in the opera canon,” says Givonna Joseph, founder and artistic director of New Orleans-based Opera Créole, which is spearheading the production of “Morgiane.”

Dédé scholar Sally McKee, professor emerita of history at the University of California, Davis, discovered the manuscript for the four-act “Morgiane” in the archives of a Harvard library in 2010. Inspired by characters from “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” the opera tells the story of Morgiane, wife of the sultan who escapes from his control with their baby girl. Later, the sultan encounters the now-grown daughter and, not realizing it’s his child, falls in love with her.

“It’s a dark comedy,” says Joseph. At the end, in a Maury Povich-esque moment, “the chorus sings, ‘You are the father! You are the father!’”

Joseph and her collaborator, conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley, transcribed the opera from its 550 handwritten pages; Joseph then worked with singers from UC Davis and the Cincinnati Opera to workshop the score.

“It was gorgeous, lush, beautiful music,” says Joseph, who notes that the opera was also progressive for its time. “These powerful women are saying no to the patriarchy and these old ways of doing things.”

For Gregory Miller, former School of Music director who worked on bringing “Morgiane” to The Clarice, the collaboration is a chance to be a part of righting the musical record—literally, as the performance will be recorded for release. “The idea that UMD could be the place where this premiere took place and where a recording could be done was more enticing than anything else.”