Musical Exoticism

The Mediterranean and Beyond in the Long Nineteenth Century

Michael Christoforidis, Ramón Sobrino (eds)

Pages: approx. 360 p.
Size:210 x 270 mm
Illustrations:39 b/w, 30 musical examples

Language(s):English
Publication Year:2024

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ISBN: 978-2-503-61177-8
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The articles in this volume explore elements of exoticism across a range of musical styles

Subject(s)

BIO

Michael Christoforidis is Professor of Musicology at the University of Melbourne, and he has published extensively on Spanish music and its impact on Western culture. Other research interests include the visual arts and musical modernism, national identity and exoticism in music, and the history of the acoustic guitar. His monographs include Manuel de Falla and Visions of Spanish Music (Routledge, 2017) and Carmen and the Staging of Spain (with Elizabeth Kertesz, Oxford University Press, 2018).

Ramón Sobrino Sánchez is Professor of Musicology at the University of Oviedo (Spain), where he has directed forty doctoral theses. His main field of research is music analysis, with specialisation in analytical methodologies, and Spanish music. He has published symphonic works by Monasterio, Bretón, Marqués Chapí, Torrandell, Zubiaurre, Sarasate, and others and edited Spanish Lyric works by Barbieri, Arrieta, Gaztambide, Chueca, Serrano and Rodrigo.

Summary

The sound image of Otherness has been a significant source of inspiration for Western music, especially since the late eighteenth century. Encounters with the racial and geographical Other fomented interest in unfamiliar musical traditions, which informed exotic projections by Western composers. This volume explores aspects of musical exoticism and its staging during the long nineteenth century, with a special focus on the Mediterranean. This diverse and yet historically interconnected region was arguably the heart of the exotic enterprise during this period. The intersection of exoticism, nationalism and empire is considered, with a special focus on the situation of Spain as both source of local colour and purveyor of musical exoticism. The essays in this volume explore elements of exoticism across a range of musical styles: from song to opera and the popular musical stage, and from instrumental to symphonic works. The analysis of this corpus also involves the examination of musical culture in dialogue with literature and figurative arts. While many of the essays focus on constructions of exoticism in individual works, several essays focus on repertories of musical exoticism and their coverage in musicological literature.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MUSICAL EXOTICISM AND THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE MID NINETEENTH-CENTURY

1. RALPH P. LOCKE, Leaving «alla turca» Behind: The Middle East in Opera and Other Musical Genres, 1800-50
2. MARÍA ENCINA CORTIZO, Exotic Sounds of Spain: French Musical Imageries

BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE ORIENT: MUSICAL EXOTICISM, NATIONALISM AND THE ALHAMBRA

3. RAMÓN SOBRINO, Musical Exoticisms in the 19th Century: Imaginary Sounds of Spanish Otherness
4. FRANCESC CORTÈS, Oriental and National Elements in the Early Operas of Felip Pedrell: The Transformations of «El último Abencerraje» (1868) into «L’Ultimo Abenzeraggio» (1889)
5. GLORIA A. RODRÍGUEZ-LORENZO – FRANCISCO J. GIMÉNEZ-RODRÍGUEZ, «Granada la bella» (1896): Musical Exoticism and Nostalgia at the Turn of the Century
6. MICHAEL CHRISTOFORIDIS – ELIZABETH KERTESZ, Exoticism and beyond: The Habanera and Musical Modernity in Belle-époque Paris

STAGING EXOTICISM IN OPERA

7. ROBERTO SCOCCIMARRO, Otherness, Self-affirmation, and Self-denial in Félicien David’s «Opéras-comiques» «Lalla Roukh» and «La captive»
8. VALERIA WENDEROTH, Reynaldo Hahn’s «L’Île du Rêve» and the Multi-faceted Representation of Otherness
9. STANISLAV TUKSAR, Exoticism as a Specific Expression of the Otherness in Some Acculturation Phenomena within Nineteenth-century Croatian Arts
10. VJERA KATALINIC, Staging Exoticisms: Case Studies in the Operatic Iconography of the Late Nineteenth-Century Zagreb National Theatre

EXOTICISM IN SONG AND POPULAR MUSICAL THEATRE

11. NICOLAS BOIFFIN, Exoticism in the German Lied: E. Geibel’s and P. Heyse’s «Spanisches Liederbuch» and Its Musical Settings
12. PAUL KREJCI, A Case Study of White American Male Othering in Early 20th-Century Popular Music: The Exotic Songs of Seattleite Minstrel Harold Taylor Weeks
13. SONJA STARKMETH, «Off to Cairo»: Musical Orientalism in Late Victorian Musical Comedy
14. ANDREA GARCÍA TORRES, The «bayadera» on the Popular Spanish Stage

REFLECTION