Originally published: 2009. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Music, the world, and the critic -- Questions of value -- Exoticism with and without exotic style -- Who is 'Us'? : the national and/as the exotic, and the treatment of stereotypes -- Baroque portrayals of despots : ancient Babylon, Incan Peru -- A world of exotic styles, 1750-1880 -- Exotic operas and two Spanish Gypsies -- Imperialism and "the exotic Orient" -- Exoticism in a modernist age (c. 1890-1960) -- Exoticism in a global age (c. 1960 to today) -- Epilogue : exotic works of the past, today.
Summary:
A Japanese geisha, a Middle Eastern caravan, a Hungarian-"Gypsy" fiddler, Carmen flinging a rose at Don Jose, Josephine Baker singing "Petite Tonkinoise"--Portrayals of people and places that are considered somehow "exotic" have been ubiquitous from 1700 to today, whether in opera, Broadway musicals, instrumental music, film scores, or in jazz and popular song. Often these portrayals are highly stereotypical but also powerful, indelible, and touching - or troubling. Musical Exoticism surveys the vast and varied repertoire of Western musical works that evoke exotic locales. It relates trends in musical exoticism to other trends in music, such as program music and avant-garde experimentation, as well as to broader historical developments, such as nationalism and empire. Ralph P. Locke traces the history of exotic depiction from the Baroque era onward. and illustrates its phases through close study of numerous exotic works, including operas by Handel and Rameau, Mozart's Rondo alla turca, Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, Debussy's Pagodes, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Bernstein's West Side Story, and the culture-bridging opera Marco Polo by Chinese-born composer Tan Dun.--Book Jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.