In Bordeaux in 1887, New Orleans-born composer Edmond Dédé finished an opera called Morgiane and, perhaps unknowingly, made history. His magnum opus is the oldest grand opera and the first known opera by a Black American composer. Sometime after Dédé set down his pen, the over-500-page manuscript for Morgiane disappeared for over a century, reappearing in Harvard’s library in 2011. Almost no one had heard it until last week.
Morgiane is the product of painstaking reconstruction from Dédé’s manuscript through a collaboration by two opera companies, Opera Lafayette and Opera Créole. Getting this opera into performable shape after it languished in archives for over a century was no mean feat; it required skill, money and time. That’s why the work of music librarians, musicologists and projects like Opera Lafayette and Opera Créole are so essential in rediscovering lost works and getting them from page to stage. Here, all this labor yielded manifold returns. Morgiane is historically significant, musically viable and worthy of a full staging.
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In this version, a team of over 100 scholars, editors and engravers completed Dédé’s orchestration and prepared a modern edition. In this concert version, the material is cut down to a tidy, engaging two hours, excising the ballets that were the mainstays of 19th-century French opera. The libretto by Louis Brunet adapts material from “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.” Amine, daughter of Morgiane and adoring stepfather Hagi Hassan, marries her beloved Ali in the first scene. Their happiness is threatened, however, first by her mother’s revelation that Hagi Hassan is not, in fact, her biological father. Morgiane fled an abusive husband soon after Amine was born but won’t reveal his name. Before the family can process this bombshell, a servant of the Sultan kidnaps Amine for his king, who wants to marry her. Hassan, Ali, and Morgiane band together to get Amine back, entering into the Sultan’s court in disguise. The family faces the Sultan’s wrath but is saved from death when Morgiane reveals that Amine’s father is, in fact, the Sultan, who promptly drops his amorous suit along with all charges against his former Sultana’s family.
The resolution is rushed and a bit confusing, but no more so than most 19th-century opera plots. At its heart, the story is about a family wanting to stay together in the face of forced separation. While Dedé, a free man of color, wrote this opera while living in France, there’s something especially poignant about a fantasy of families who insist on staying together when one recalls the history of familial separations and alternative forms of kinship that mark the history of slavery in the United States. Dédé, who had himself left his home and family and whose lifetime was bisected by the American Civil War, may well have had such ideas in mind when he chose this story. But the opera is certainly not about these issues. Instead, it is fairly lighthearted for all its tragic inciting incidents, and its Persian setting fits into the larger trend of 19th-century Orientalism.
Dédé’s score is always pleasing and occasionally even thrilling, displaying a mix of period styles from both sides of the Atlantic. There are moments that recall Donizetti and early Verdi, some overtures tinged with Tchaikovsky-esque grace, some brass parts that sound firmly American, and even a few Caribbean influences in the rhythms. But Dédé does have a sound all his own, one defined by his heavy use of winds and brass, which gives the whole orchestral part an almost voice-like quality, and by his contrastingly light, tuneful melodies. Dédé also writes well and generously for the voice; every character gets at least two arias. The fourth act, which features an achingly lovely a cappella quartet as the family resigns itself to execution and a whopping, showstopping aria for Morgiane herself, had the finest music of all, beginning with an unexpected small ensemble for winds that felt almost Baroque in its tightly woven melodies.
Opera Lafayette’s concert production was elevated by a strong cast, especially Mary Elizabeth Williams in the title role. Williams is a compelling performer with a honeyed, indulgent sound and magnetic presence that made Morgiane both sympathetic and staunch. Another standout was fiery bass-baritone Jonathan Woody as the Sultan’s Behar, who has a unique brightness to his sound and considerable propulsive power that made his every entrance into a shot of adrenaline. Soprano Nicole Cabell, as Amine, had a flexible, savvy sound and navigated the coloratura sections with enviable control. Chauncey Packer’s powerful, metallic tenor as Ali sliced through the thick orchestration with ease. Joshua Conyers was tender as loving stepdad Hagi Hassan, with a baritone that acquired more warmth as the evening progressed. Kenneth Kellogg did not enter until the second half but had a steely, insistent bass-baritone as the Sultan.
Neither this opera nor this performance was perfect. At times Dédé’s phrases can be overly symmetrical, and the near-constant doubling of vocal and instrumental parts (especially for the Hagi Hassan character) meant that the orchestra frequently drowned out the singers. There were moments when the Opera Lafayette orchestra sounded a bit muddy or where the brass and winds had a slightly off-kilter tuning. But perfection is not required for a work to enter the repertoire. Opera Lafayette and Opera Créole have provided proof of their concept and then some. This opera has plenty to captivate; Morgiane should be here to stay.
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