In most seasons Opera Lafayette unearths works lost to time. For its latest offering, the group’s mission aligned with that of OperaCréole, based in New Orleans, to revive the music of forgotten African-American composers. On Monday night at Lincoln Theatre, the two organizations gave the belated world premiere of Morgiane, ou Le sultan d’Ispahan, a full-length opera written in France in 1887 by Edmond Dédé, a composer born into a family of free black people in New Orleans.

Although the piece never saw a performance until now, Morgiane is by all accounts the oldest known opera composed by a black American. The composer’s only score, long believed lost, was rediscovered in 2011, in a collection at Harvard University’s Houghton Library. Opera Lafayette music director-designate Patrick Dupre Quigley worked with music transcriber Maurice Saylor, among many others, to complete a performing edition of the opera from this surviving manuscript.

Louis Brunet’s libretto, perhaps inspired by the Arabian tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, is set in Persia. A young woman, Amine, is about to celebrate her wedding to Ali, when Beher, the servant of Kourouschah, the Sultan of Ispahan, abducts her. The Sultan attempts to coerce Amine into becoming his wife, but the girl’s parents, Morgiane and Hagi Hassan, follow her to Ispahan with Ali. The Sultan relents only when he finds out, miracle of miracles, that the girl’s mother is his ex-wife and Amine, his long-lost daughter.

Hopes are always high when rediscovering a lost work, perhaps heightened in the historic case of this black composer. Sadly, it must be said that Morgiane is far from a masterpiece, with numerous longueurs that added up to a long night in the theater, compounded by a late start due to complications getting the audience through a security check. 

Morgiane turned out to be a garden-variety light comic opera, with some charming numbers but not enough musical or dramatic weight to make it a compelling work. Most of the evening’s laughs came in unintended ways, mostly from ridiculous moments in the libretto, and none of the music really stuck in the ear for very long, either in terms of melodic or harmonic interest.

Leading the cast with often incendiary power was soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams in the title role. The tessitura of Morgiane suited her better than her 2023 turn in Santa Fe Opera’s Rusalka, with some forceful high notes and agile passagework. Williams’  imperious stage presence helped smooth the rather absurd plot twist that she was actually once the Sultana of Ispahan, not even recognized by her former husband until she announced herself.

Bass Kenneth Kellogg, a D.C. native long familiar to local audiences, made an imposing foil to Williams as the Sultan. His resonant voice displayed not only virile strength but legato grace, with a few moments where he got off the beat, helped back on track by Quigley’s confident conducting. Baritone Joshua Conyers gave both suave vocal sound and good humor to the role of Hagi Hassan, the latter especially when he found out that Amine was not his daughter after all.

The rest of the cast proved slightly uneven, with bass-baritone Jonathan Woody proving a comically villainous Beher, his vocal heft not generally matching up to his attempt to menace. Soprano Nicole Cabell, pretty and earnest as Amine, ended up lost in ensembles where her part was meant to soar at the top. Tenor Chauncey Parker, who got his start in musical theater, had most of the top notes for the role of Ali, but sang with a pinched and nasal tone. Neither Cabell nor Parker projected very well, a problem compounded by the occasionally heavy scoring.

Singers from OperaCréole, which presented excerpts from the opera in New Orleans last month, performed the choral numbers. Their ensemble sound was not well blended, with male voices often dominating at loud moments. Three singers made brief solo appearances in minor roles, coming to the front of the stage and then returning to the chorus, placed on risers behind the orchestra on the stage.

The Opera Lafayette Orchestra was larger in size than normal, because of the broad scoring used by Dédé. Woodwinds did not really balance well with the strings and the large brass assortment tended to overwhelm everything, bolstered by four horns, three trombones, and an ophicleide. The pairs of trumpets and cornets proved the least reliable in terms of accuracy and intonation. A relatively large percussion section included extended bits for glockenspiel in the market scene of Act II.

Quigley presided over the large forces with a calm hand, holding out promise for a smooth transition to his leadership at Opera Lafayette at the end of this season. Since there was no staging, the stage stood open to the back wall to accommodate the musicians and singers. Costumes for the singers, including the chorus (designed by Amy Amos, Givonna Joseph, and Aria Mason), suggested something of the exotic locale of a Persian city.

Morgiane will be repeated 7 p.m. February 7 at The Clarice in College Park. operalafayette.org

5 Responses to “Dédé’s “Morgiane” proves a lightweight disappointment in belated world premiere”

1. Posted Feb 04, 2025 at 5:41 pm by Malcolm

   As I finished reading this review, it gave me great comfort to remember Philip Hale’s scathing critique of Beethoven’s ninth symphony, wherein Hale described the Ode to Joy theme as possessing an “unspeakable cheapness.” B9 is now one of the most programmed and enjoyed pieces in the Classical music repertoire, and I similarly look forward to Dédé’s glorious opera joining the pantheon of French grand opera works, to be performed again and again.

   I hope the artists, who are real people with feelings who read reviews, remember the audience’s immediate shout of joy and jump-to-their-feet standing ovation upon the work’s final chord, and not the cheap shots taken by this author, which do nothing other than to harm; and I hope those who read this review remember that the author’s expectation that a comic grand opera be a “masterpiece” for it to be any good merely betrays the author’s individual tastes and prejudices and is not an objective or contextual take on what the genre actually is (surprising, given the author’s musicological background).

   For those who are actually interested to know what the music is like (because, curiously, that central element was not mentioned here): it is filled with glamorous and soaring arias, beautiful and creative orchestrations including one of the most exquisite woodwind duets now extant in the repertoire, and hilarious and often poignant text.

   The stage is filled with artists who have unmistakably poured their hearts and souls into an incredible decade-long feat of research, revival, and historically informed performance. The audience, energized by the mesmerizing and virtuosic performances of the singers, erupted into spontaneous applause on multiple occasions, to the extent that I truly felt that I had gone back in time and was physically present at a real 19th-century opera premier.

   I hope Opera Lafayette and Opera Creole are proud of what they have done. It was amazing.

2. Posted Feb 05, 2025 at 3:06 pm by Toni Codinas

   The reviewer is omitting so much needed historic and humanistic context and instead stays on the surface and rushes to classify the work as “a garden-variety light comic opera” with “not enough musical or dramatic weight to make it a compelling work.”

   Is that how a work of this cultural and social importance, which goes well beyond what is written on the score, should be dismissed? Also, I find it unnecessary to nitpick on balance issues in a hall that was not chosen for its acoustic qualities but for its cultural significance in the heart of Washington DC’s black community.

3. Posted Feb 06, 2025 at 4:58 pm by MB

   I wish the program would have made it clear that the woodwinds and brass were all playing on historically accurate period instruments. Some of those horn and trumpet crook changes looked especially fast and furious. Impressed there are enough people out in the world that still own and play such things.

4. Posted Feb 08, 2025 at 11:00 am by Charles Rhodes

   I thought the music was fabulous. Don’t care a whit about the plausibility of the plot, like so many operas. Aside from the lead soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams, the cast was woefully inadequate for the demands of the music. Would love to see/ hear it again with world class singers who could infuse the music with the passion and genius it deserves and demands.

5. Posted Feb 08, 2025 at 11:40 am by Barry Johnson

   I saw the performance Friday at College Park and it revealed a composer with a remarkable talent for crafting beautiful melodies, interesting ensembles and dynamic rhythms and tones, all of which created an enchanting evening that felt all too brief.

   I could not help but wonder how the work might have evolved had the composer been able to actually stage it and been given time to make the adjustments that inevitably occur as part of the creative process. For a work that the composer apparently never heard performed, it was remarkable; I bet even music critics’ draft works are a little rough around the edges.

   I suspect Friday’s performance benefited from the acoustic qualities of a proper concert hall and I only hope more audiences will have the opportunity to experience it in such a venue in future. I left sad that Dede did not have the opportunity to focus on large-scale operas earlier in his life, he may have evolved into a major contributor to the opera cannon.

   It is a national shame that he could not be supported in his native country and had to expatriate to pursue a career using his amazing talent. Thanks to Opera Creole and Opera Lafayette for introducing this work to the world.

Leave a Comment

Name (required):

Email (will not be published) (required):

Website:

Message:

Δ