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Ballet

  • originally part of French court opera
  • "divertissements"
  • takes on its own life in latter half of 18th century
  • by 19th century, Romantic composers (mostly French) turned to ballet as an appealing medium
  • still a beloved (if not expected) part of French opera culture

Russian Francophilia

  • 18th and 19th century Russian imperial court was OBSESSED with all things French
  • align with highbrow Western Europe, rather than lowbrow Eastern Europe or Asia
  • Developed strong ballet schools in St. Petersburg and Moscow
  • Chaikovsky's conservatory training
  • Swan Lake (1876)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (1889)
  • The Nutcracker (1892)

"Number 11. Tea. Allegretto in 3/4. In the Chinese taste, little bells, etc. 48 bars."

-from Maurice Petipa's instructions to Chaikovsky

The evocation of a foreign location or foreign people (through music)

"East" = Orientalism

"China" = Chinoiserie

Exoticism in the 19th Century

  • Easier accessibility of travel, communication
  • World fairs
  • Curiosity
  • Authenticity? Nope.

The Nutcracker

Arabian Dance (Coffee)

Exoticism in Arabian Dance

  • Drones
  • Parallel fifths
  • Chromaticism
  • Reeds
  • Percussion

Some Conventions of Exoticism:

  • Pentatonicism
  • Modes
  • Augmented seconds and fourths
  • Chromaticism
  • Drones/pedal points
  • Ostinatos
  • Colorful timbre
  • Simple forms
  • Dance rhythms

"No. 10. Coffee. Arabia. The kingdom of Yemen. Coffee mocha. Oriental Dance. From 24 to 32 bars of charming and voluptuous music."

-Petipa

Othering

  • Allure of the foreign "other" (sex!)
  • Different = lesser; uncivilized
  • Anti-progress

Carmen

  • Georges Bizet
  • Premiered Paris, 1875
  • Opéra comique

Realism and Exoticism

  • Realism:
  • plot
  • characters
  • some of the music (?)
  • Exoticism:
  • Spain
  • Romani people
  • Carmen

“These musical gypsies become recognizable through their display of standard ethnic stereotypes, the many ways in which they differ from us: strangely passionate expression, mad verve, harshness, savagery, sad tenderness, melancholy, charming wildness, colorful independence, unregulated caprice…The actual signifying practices of ethnic musics matter little here, for what the European ear expected to hear in exotic music was its own image of difference: this music reinscribes not so much its ostensible musical model as European notions of what the Other is like.”

-Susan McClary, Georges Bizet: Carmen

Habanera

Seguidilla

  • Carmen seduces Don José
  • Realism:
  • Spanish dance form
  • triple meter
  • stomping/clapping
  • Exoticism:
  • Accompaniment imitates guitar
  • Vocal melody features melismas and grace notes
  • Harmony is vaguely Phrygian

"No. 10. Coffee. Arabia. The kingdom of Yemen. Coffee mocha. Oriental Dance. From 24 to 32 bars of charming and voluptuous music."

-Petipa

Exoticism

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