Edmunde Dédé

About

Edmond Dédé was a black creole born in New Orleans about 1829, a contemporary of McCarty and of Snaer. A violin prodigy, he first studied in New Orleans under the tutorship of skillful and conscientious teachers. After having mastered everything in his field available to a black man in the city, he went to Europe on the advice of understanding friends. He visited Belgium first, but not finding in that little kingdom the object of his search, he traveled to Paris, where he received a ready welcome. In this enlightened capital, in which everyone acknowledges talent wherever it exists, Edmond Dédé met with sympathy and assistance. In this hospitable country, he found the opportunity he was seeking, namely, that of perfecting his gift in music and of going as far as he possibly could in his profession as a violinist. Through the intervention of friends, he was soon admitted as an auditioner for the Paris Conservatory of Music. His progress and his triumphs quickly attracted the attention of the musical world, and he was given all the consideration awarded to true merit. He was the conductor of the Theater of Bordeaux for twenty-five years. The violin always remained his instrument. In 1893 Dédé returned to New Orleans, where he presented a number of concerts. The music critic of L'Abeille, among others, honored him by attending one of his performances. He was greatly impressed at seeing Dédé play "Le Trouvere" without a score, and gave him ample praise in the columns of his newspaper. His compositions were all of high quality. He even began the composition of a grand opera called Le Sultan d'Ispahan (The Sultan of Spain), which he never completed because of illness. Edmond Dédé died in Paris in 1903.

Related Information

Works by Edmunde Dédé