In 1887, New Orleans-born composer Edmond Dédé completed a film called Mojian And, perhaps history has been made unconsciously. His large opera is the oldest large opera and the first famous opera by a black American composer. Sometime after Dédé put down his pen Mojian It disappeared for more than a century and reappeared in 2011 at the Harvard Library. Until last week, almost no one heard it.
Mojian It was a product of hard reconstruction from Dédé’s manuscripts through the collaboration of two opera companies Lafayette and Opera Créole. It was no easy task to turn the opera into the shape of a performance after more than a century of stolen from the opera. It requires skill, money and time. That’s why the works of music librarians, musicologists and projects such as Opera Lafayette and Opera Créole are crucial to rediscovering lost works and taking them from page to stage. Here, all this labor has produced many rewards. Mojian It is historically meaningful, musically feasible, and worthy of a complete stage.
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In this edition, a team of more than 100 scholars, editors and engravers completed the choreography of Dédé and prepared a modern version. In this concert version, the material was cut into a neat, neat, ballet stage associated with the pillars of 19th-century French opera, causing two hours. Louis Brunet’s Libretto adapted the material from “Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves”. Amine is Morgiane’s daughter and worships stepfather Hagi Hassan, who married her beloved Ali in the first scene. However, their happiness is threatened first due to the mother’s revelation that Hagi Hassan is not actually her biological father. Shortly after Mana was born, Morgiane fled from an abuser but would not reveal his name. Before the family could handle the bombshell, his king was the servant of Sultan’s kidnap of amine and he wanted to marry her. Hassan, Ali and Morgani rehabilitate the amine and enter the Sudanese court in disguise. The family faces the anger of Sultan, but Mogianna reveals that Mana’s father is actually Sultan, and he quickly abandons his passionate lawsuit and all charges against his former Sultanna’s family.
The resolution is a bit confusing, but only more confusing than most 19th-century opera plots. Essentially, the story is about a family who wants to be together in a forced separation. Although Dedé was a free man of color, he wrote the opera while living in France, but when one recalls the history of family separation and the fantasy of kinship in alternative forms, the fantasy of fantasy is particularly evident. People are depressed, which marks the history of slavery in the United States. Dédé himself left his home and family, and his life was a life of the American Civil War, and when he chose this story, he was likely to think of such an idea. But opera certainly has nothing to do with these issues. Instead, it was rather relaxed for all the tragic incitement, and the Persian environment was in line with the larger trend of 19th-century Orientalism.
Dédé’s score is always pleasant, occasionally even exciting, showing various period styles from both sides of the Atlantic. There are moments that remind you of Donizetti and early Verdi, some suggest that it is Tchaikovsky-like grace, some brass tubes are decorated with firm Americans, even at There are also some Caribbean influences in the rhythm. But Dédé does have his own voice, which is defined by his heavy use of wind and brass, which makes the whole orchestral part almost sound like sound, and he compares to his lightness, melody of tune. Dédé also wrote very well for the sound. Each character has at least two arias. Act 4 is a very cute a cappella quartet, as the family quits their resignation from the execution and shocking aria for Morgiane himself, who has the best tightly woven melody.
Lafayette’s opera concert received a strong performance, especially the champion role of Mary Elizabeth Williams. Williams is an engaging performer with a sweet, indulgent voice and magnetism that makes Morgiane both sympathetic and firm. Another outstanding one is the Behar of Sultan, which is a fierce bass – Jonathan Woody, whose voice and considerable propulsion have a unique brightness that makes every entrance into Adrenaline lens. Soprano Nicole Cabell is an amine with a flexible, savvy voice and navigates the Coloratura section with enviable controls. Chauncey Packer’s powerful, metal tenor, Ali easily slices through thick choreography. Joshua Conyers is as gentle as the loving Stepdad Hagi Hassan, and the baritone gets more warmth as the night develops. Kenneth Kellogg didn’t enter until the second half, but he took Sultan as the persistent, the bass of the persistence-baridon.
Neither the opera nor the performance are perfect. Sometimes, Dédé’s phrases can be too symmetrical, with the near-construction of the sound and instrumental parts (especially for Hagi Hassan characters) meaning that the band often drowns out singers. Sometimes the opera Lafayette orchestra sounds a bit muddy, or the brass and wind tuning is slightly small. However, working into the track doesn’t need to be perfect. Lafayette and Opera Créole provide their proof of concept, and then provide some proof. There are many people worth mentioning in this opera. Mojian It should stay here.
