Edmond Dédé’s Chicago, grand valse à l'américaine
This February, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates Black composers and musicians whose music has been suppressed and ignored. All of these musicians should be added to the music history and music theory curriculum.
Edmond Dédé (1827–1901) was born in New Orleans. Following childhood studies on the clarinet and violin, he went to Paris and studied at the Conservatoire. He then became a conductor, mostly for ballet companies and also at the Folies Bordelaises. He continued composing and his works all met with success. Many of his scores can be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Lester Sullivan says, “In 1852 Dédé's melody Mon pauvre coeur appeared. It is the oldest surviving piece of sheet music by a New Orleans Creole of color. He supplemented his income from music with what today would be characterized as his day job: he was a cigar maker, as were a number of other local musicians.”
Dédé’s Chicago, grand valse à l'américaine was published in Paris in 1892. It was dedicated to Dédé’s cousin Samuel L. Armstrong, who lived in Chicago. It was originally composed for piano and orchestrated in 1891. It is a wonderfully evocative orchestral work, and should be programmed just as often as any Strauss waltz, but I would venture to say that most people will never have heard of it, or of its composer. The opening bars grab the listener and every time I want to get up and dance. Richard Rosenberg says, “This polka, in addition to its buzzing ensemble of ‘mirlitons’ of kazoos (also used in Mirliton fin de siecle), bears unusual features including a lyrical solo for ophicleide (predecessor of the modern tuba) vocal interpolations b the musicians, and its dedication ‘aux Bigotopgonistes’ (bigots, also kazooists).”
My classical music post for today is Edmond Dédé’s Chicago, grand valse à l'américaine.
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