[Edmond Dédé; Hot Springs Music Festival; Richard Rosenberg, Conductor; Naxos 8.559038 (2000)]
Until recently, the composer's first name was spelled "Edmond," but historical evidence discloses an alternate spelling, "Edmund." The Houston Daily Post ran this headline on October 22, 1893:
Musician
& Composer Edmund DEDE Survives Wreck of the Steamer
Marseilles
The article, which is found at http://theoldentimes.com/ relates:
"Edmund Dede was the only first-class passenger on the wrecked steamship Marseilles. He is a noted composer of music and was chief of the orchestra in one of the prominent theaters, member of the Society of Authors and Editors of Music of France and an accomplished violinist."
Edmond
Dédé was a free Creole of color, born Nov. 20, 1827 in New Orleans,
Louisiana. His parents had arrived from the French West Indies around
1809. Edmond's father was a bandmaster for a militia unit. The boy
first learned clarinet, but switched to violin, on which he was
considered a prodigy. The liner notes for the Naxos CD were written by
Lester Sullivan, University Archivist at Xavier University in New
Orleans. Sullivan writes:
“He
studied violin with Constantin Debergue, a local free black violinist
and director of the local Philharmonic Society founded by free Creoles
of color sometime in the late antebellum period, and with Italian-born
Ludovico Gabici, director of the St. Charles Theater orchestra and one
of the earliest publishers of music in the city. He studied
counterpoint and harmony with Eugène Prévost, French-born winner of the
1831 Prix de Rome and conductor of the orchestra at the Théâtre
d'Orléans, and with New York-born free black musician Charles Richard
Lambert, father of Sidney and Lucièn Lambert, and a conductor of the
Philharmonic Society, which was the first non-theatrical orchestra in
the city and even included some white musicians among its one hundred
instrumentalists, an extremely large aggregation for the time.”
White hostility against African American musicians forced him to flee to Mexico, where he continued his training .
Dédé returned to New Orleans and worked as a cigar maker until his
funds enabled him to travel to Belgium, and then on to Paris. He was
admitted to the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1857. After graduating,
Dédé settled in Bordeaux. Dédé served as Orchestra Conductor at the
Theatre l'Alcazar for 27 years. He also conducted light music at the
Folies Bordelaises. As a highly accomplished violinist, Dédé performed
his own compositions as well as those of others. He married Sylvie
Leflet in 1864; their son Eugene Arcade Dédé also composed classical
music.
The U.S. Civil War ended April 18, 1865. Within a month, Dédé's Quasimodo Symphony
was premiered before a packed house in New Orleans on May 10, 1865.
An African American orchestra was led by musician Samuel Snaer, Jr. The
composer's other works include Le Palmier Overture and a composition he wrote during a stay in Algeria, Le Sermente de L'Arabe.
Dédé died in Paris in 1903. Many of his compositions are preserved
there at the Bibliotheque Nationale. [Edmond Dédé is profiled at AfriClassical.com]
No comments:
Post a Comment