Born September 13, 1859, Sacramento, California Died unknown, unknown
About Joseph D. Redding
Joseph D. Redding was better known as a musical citizen of San Francisco than as a composer, but he was the author, among other works, of the opera Fay-Yen-Fah (some sources give it as Fay-En-Fah), which became, not only the first American opera produced in France, but also the first American opera performed by the San Francisco Opera, as part of a special January season. The opera was composed to an English libretto, but the premiere and the San Francisco production were presented in French for the convenience of the singers.
Redding's contribution to American opera also includes the libretto to Victor Herbert's Natoma and Henry Hadley's Semper virens.
Operas
Fay-Yen-Fah Libretto by Charles Templeton Crocker after the grove-play The Land of Happiness by Crocker and Redding. February 26, 1925, Monte Carlo [American premiere 11 Jan. 1926, San Francisco Grand Opera Company, Columbia Theater, San Francisco, California. See Hipsher (1978) at p. 367 for full cast.]
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