b. 1827-1901
Edmond Dédé was a black creole born in New Orleans about 1829, a contemporary of McCarty and of Snaer. A violin prodigy, he first studied in New Orleans under the tutorship of skillful and conscientious teachers. After having mastered everything in his field available to a black man in the city, he went to Europe on the advice of understanding friends. He visited Belgium first, but not finding in that little kingdom the object of his search, he traveled to Paris, where he received a ready welcome. In this enlightened capital, in which everyone acknowledges talent wherever it exists, Edmond Dédé met with sympathy and assistance. In this hospitable country, he found the opportunity he was seeking, namely, that of perfecting his gift in music and of going as far as he possibly could in his profession as a violinist. Through the intervention of friends, he was soon admitted as an auditioner for the Paris Conservatory of Music. His progress and his triumphs quickly attracted the attention of the musical world, and he was given all the consideration awarded to true merit. He was the conductor of the Theater of Bordeaux for twenty-five years. The violin always remained his instrument. In 1893 Dédé returned to New Orleans, where he presented a number of concerts. The music critic of L'Abeille, among others, honored him by attending one of his performances. He was greatly impressed at seeing Dédé play "Le Trouvere" without a score, and gave him ample praise in the columns of his newspaper. His compositions were all of high quality. He even began the composition of a grand opera called Le Sultan d'Ispahan (The Sultan of Spain), which he never completed because of illness. Edmond Dédé died in Paris in 1903.
Works: Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma
Edmund Dédé, Naxos 8.559038 (2000). Liner Notes by Lester Sullivan, University Archivist, Xavier University, and Richard Rosenberg, Conductor, Hot Springs Music Festival.
Après le miel, opéra comique (1880).
Bikina; Conseil hygiéque, for voice & piano. Bordeaux: Emile Marchand, 1881. Text: Quasimodo==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.733).
C'est la faute à Colas; Chansonette, for voice & piano. Paris: L. Coudere, 1881. Text: A. Denant==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.334).
Chick-king-fo, operetta in1 act (1878). -- Bordeaux.
Comme une soeur, for voice & piano (1887). Library: Bibliothèque Nationale K. 41560.
Cora, la bordelaise, for voice & piano. Bordeaux : Philibert, 1881. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.338).
Hernani, opera by ? , Bordeaux.
Inéa. -- Bordeaux.
J'la connais!, for voice & piano. Paris: Duhem, 1884. Text: H. P. Denneville= and Ghedé (Chedé?). Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.339 & 340).-- Paris: Duhem, 1885. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (K. 41585).
La confirmation des amoureux, chansonette, for voice & piano. Paris: Ghelieve, 1881. Text: Gaston Faure==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (K. 41561).
La femme de glace, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
La femme au vitriol, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
La malagaise; Seguedille, for voice & piano. Paris: E. Froment, 1888. Text: Charles Giugno==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.343).
La musique aux lanternes, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
L'amour! c'est-y bon?, for voice & piano. Bordeaux : E. Philibert, 1877. Text: A. Demarton==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (K. 41557 & Vm7 47.332).
L'anneau du diable, féerie in 3 acts.
L'antropohage, opera in 1 act (1880).
Le barbier de Seville, arrangement of themes. -- Bordeaux.
Le chef de musique, operetta. -- 1889; Paris; Gaité-Montparnasse
Le garçon troquet, chanson rhythmée, for voice & piano. Paris: Raymond Viel & Masson, 1887. Text: E. Bessière and A. Appert==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.338ter).
Le grillon du foyer, opera.
Le klephte, for voice & piano. Paris: E. Froment, 1888. Text: Charles Giugno==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.342).
Le noye, opera.
Le roi des boudinés, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
Le sultan d'Ispahan, opera in 4 acts (begun in 1865, unfinished). -- Le serment de l'arabe. Trotter, James Monroe. Music and some highly musical people. Boston: Lee and Shepherd; New York: Charles T. Dillingham, 1881. -- New York: Johnson Reprint, 1968, 1881. -- Chicago: Afro-Am Press, 1969, 1881-- EBook #28056, 2009, 1881 (Project Gutenberg).== , p53-59 [appendix]).
Les adieux du coussier, for voice & piano (1888). Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (K. 41556).
Les étudiants bordelais, opera in 1 act.
Mon beau tyrolein, tyrolienne comique, for voice & piano. Bordeaux: E. Philibert, 1876. Text: Laroche and E. Duhem. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.345).
Mon beau tyrolein; Tyrolienne comique, for voice & piano. Bordeaux: E. Philibert, 1876. Text: Laroche and E. Duhem==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.345).
Mon pauvre coeur, for voice & piano (1852[6]).
Mon sous off!, chansonette, for voice & piano. Bordeaux : E. Philibert, 1876. Text: H. Min & E. Duhem==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 346).
Montmartre la nuit; Marche polka sur les motifs de Le chevaliers de la Butte, opèra buffe en 3 actes, by Albert Petit==. Paris: 1909. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm12 2).
Ous' qu'est mon toréador?; Chansonette, for voice & piano. Paris & Bordeaux: Vve. Heraud, 1899. Text: Eugène Grégoire==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.347).
Patriotisme, for voice & piano (1893). Text: Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes (1849-1928).]Rudolphe Lucien Desdunes[7].
Si j'étais lui, voice & piano. New Orleans: A. E. Blackmar. Text: M. V. E. Rillieux==
Si tu m'aimais, for voice & piano (1893). Text: A. van Erbs. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (K. 35766).
Tchi-tchick ou Atchi-tchich; Chansonnette, for voice & piano. Paris: L. Bathelot-Joubert, 1892. (L.B. 7924) Text: Freddy Xar==; text in Spanish by ?. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.442).-- Paris: L. Bathelot-Joubert, 1893. (L.B. 7982). Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 442bis).
Titis, débardeurs et grisettes; Chansonette, for voice & piano. Paris: Smite, 1876. Text: J. J. La Grace, fils==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.351).
Une aventure de Telemaque, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
Une femme qui bégaie, operetta. -- Bordeaux.
Une noce en musique; Chansonette comique. Paris & Bordeaux: Ve. Héraud, 1889. Text: Camille Nogent==. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 47.3530).
Veillée de Noël; Chanson d'enfant, for voice & piano. Paris: J. Leone [Leane?], 1904. Text: Jean Leone. Library: Bibliothèque Nationale (Vm7 122306).
Bibliography
Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma
Brawley, Benjamin. The Negro in literature and art. New York: Duffield & Co., 1921, 1918, p129-130. ebook #35063, 2011, The project Gutenberg.
Carter, Madison H. An annotated catalogue of composers of African ancestry. New York: Vantage Press, 1986.
Handy, D. Antoinette. Black conductors. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1995.
Hare, Maud Cuney. Negro musicians and their music, introduction by Josephine Harreld Love. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996, 1936. xl, xii, 439p. (African-American women writers, 1910-1940, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., general editor). -- Washington: Associated Publishers, 1936.
Horne, Aaron. Brass music of Black composers; A bibliography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Horne, Aaron. Woodwind music of Black composers. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.
Microsoft Encarta Africana Encyclopedia, on CD-ROM. -- Basic Civitas Books, ed. by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Sullivan, Lester. "Composers of color, nineteenth-century New Orleans;The story behind the nusic" in Black music research journal, v8 (1988) p11-41.
Sullivan, Lester. Liner notes for CD Naxos 8.559038 (2000).
