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Music
A world premiere recording of Dédé‘s music has been made by the Hot Springs Music Festival, conducted by Richard Rosenberg on Naxos 8.559038 (2000)(73:03). Works include "Chicago" (8:35), "Françoise et Tortillard" (5:29), "Mon Sous Off!" (4:32), "Méphisto masqué" (5:28), "Battez aux champs" (5:40), "Cora La Bordelaise" (3:25) and "Mon pauvre coeur" (3:44). "Mon pauvre coeur" was published in 1852 and is the earliest remaining printed work by a Créole of color in New Orleans. Dédé‘s "Quasimodo Symphony" had a successful premiere in New Orleans in 1865. His best known piece is "Le Palmier Overture". He composed "Le Sermente de l’Arabe" during a stay in Algeria in 1865.
Life
Edmond Dédé was a free Créole of color, born in New Orleans, Louisiana on Nov. 20, 1827. He first studied clarinet, then switched to violin. His teachers were Constantin Debergue and Ludovico Gabici. White hostility forced Dédé to flee New Orleans and study music in Mexico for a time. Returning to New Orleans, he worked as a cigar maker. When his funds permitted, he traveled to Belgium and then to France, where he attended the Paris Conservatory. One of his teachers was Jacques-François Halévy. He married a French woman and served as a conductor in Bordeaux for 27 years, at the Théâtre de l’Alcazar. Dédé returned to New Orleans only once, in 1893. The racial prejudice he encountered caused him to return to France. He died in Paris in 1903. Much of his sheet music is preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.