Koanga is an opera written between 1896 and 1897, with music by Frederick Delius and a libretto by Charles Francis Keary, inspired partly by the book The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life by George Washington Cable (1880). Inspiration also came from Delius's own experiences as a young man, when his family sent him to work in Florida. It was Delius's third opera, and he thought better of it than of its predecessors, Irmelin and The Magic Fountain, because of the incorporation of dance scenes and his treatment of the choruses. Koanga is reputed to be the first opera in the European tradition to base much of its melodic material on African-American music. Performance history 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. 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