Koanga was the first of Delius's operas to be performed. It was also the most labour-intensive with regard to the libretto, which was continually revised. The opera was posthumously published in 1935. It was performed privately in March 1899 at the residence of
Adela Maddison in Paris.
Gabriel Fauré was among the performers, and the audience included
Prince Edmond de Polignac and the
Princesse de Polignac. Selections from the opera were performed in London on 30 May 1899 at
St James's Hall, in a concert of his own music organised by Delius. The first public staging of the opera was at the
Stadttheater Elberfeld, Germany, on 30 March 1904. It was sung in German, using a translation by
Jelka Delius, and conducted by
Fritz Cassirer. Sir
Thomas Beecham directed the British premiere of the full opera at the
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, on 23 September 1935.
John Brownlee sang the title role, with
Oda Slobodskaya as Palmyra. In 1958
Stanford Robinson directed the BBC Chorus & Orchestra with
Lawrence Winters (Koanga) and
Leonora Lafayette (Palmyra).
Washington Opera staged it successfully in December 1970 at
Lisner Auditorium.
Frank Corsaro was the director. This was the first U.S. staging of any opera by Delius. A revival in 1972 for the Camden Festival at
Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, was conducted by Sir
Charles Groves. Douglas Craig and Andrew Page had worked extensively on revisions to a performing edition, which was used for the first complete commercial recording, conducted by Groves. Robert Threlfall has examined revisions to the text of
Koanga in its various editions. More recent revisions to the libretto have been by
Olwen Wymark. The single most famous musical passage from the opera contains the melody known as
La Calinda, which is the only part of the score that has remained famous in the concert hall.
Eric Fenby, Delius's
amanuensis, wrote of the opera as follows: "
Koanga is one of those singular works that attract attention in Delius's development, but which stand apart from the rest of his music. Usually, once a work was written, Delius's interest in it would wane. It would then be renewed and be relived temporarily every time he heard it again. For
Koanga, however, he showed concern as though it held some secret bond that bound him to his youth in
Florida. It was the one work he deplored in old age he was never likely to hear again. And so it proved. A dark grandeur pervades the score which, whilst yielding to hankerings after
Wagner, recalls the tragic gusto of
Verdi. The elements of time, place and plot allowed him a range of textures and moods wider than in his other operas." The Pegasus Opera Company staged
Koanga at Sadler's Wells Theatre in April 2007 and the Wexford Opera Festival in 2015 (broadcast by
BBC Radio 3 in 2016). William Randel has studied the relationship of the opera and its libretto to the original story by Cable. ==Roles==