As a multimedia genre, opera engages a diverse array of elements: set designs, costuming, casting, and historical, textual and musical contexts combine to shape how we experience opera. However, this complexity means that exotic elements, so common in many operatic works, are often difficult to parse. Accounting for exoticism in opera therefore presents challenges for teachers and students of opera music history. Placing these elements in a global, historical, and social context is complicated and thus requires a nuanced theoretical framework.
Definitions of musical exoticism
Historically, scholars have engaged with musical exoticism on a small and somewhat superficial scale: “exoticism has been treated less as a broad mindset or artistic approach and more as a lexicon of specific stylistic devices associated, [...] with the distant country or people in question” (Locke 2007, 478). This narrow approach, however, makes little sense considering that audiences experience an opera within a multifaceted context (Locke 2007, 493). We thus need a broader framework to account for exoticism’s complexity. In this essay, I discuss a definition for musical exoticism, and consider both a framework and an approach to account for musical exoticism in operas. It is not enough, I argue, to address only the notes on the score and discuss how they sound ‘exotic’; it is necessary to consider multiple factors beyond the score to account more fully for a work’s musical exoticism.
Scholars disagree on the definition of ‘musical exoticism’, which has, for a long time, solely been defined as the incorporation of foreign style elements (Locke 2007, 480). For some scholars, exoticism is simply a combination of unusual notes which reminds the listener of the distant locale in question (Locke 2007, 480). Others claim that it is more than that but still must utilize borrowed—or purely evocative—exotic style markers (Locke 2007, 481). Locke proposes a new definition:
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Musical exoticism is the process of evoking in or through music— whether the latter is “exotic-sounding” or not—a place, people, or social milieu that is not entirely imaginary and that differs profoundly from the ‘home’ country or culture in attitudes, customs, and morals (Locke 2007, 483).
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Locke’s definition is broad enough to account for musical exoticism without leaving it susceptible to widely different interpretations.
Yet a concise definition is only one step towards effectively analysing musical exoticism. Locke proposes a different, broader framework for analysing musical exoticism, which considers the many elements of opera, focusing on the composer’s and audience’s perceptions of the ‘other’ (a person or group of people) and/or the ‘elsewhere’ (a distant locale). Using a relational framework, he considers and compares each work or piece to other works, accounting for common stereotypes within musical exoticism which refer to an ‘other.’ An ‘elsewhere’ might be evoked using moods (i.e., mysterious, or innocently idyllic) which carry certain connotations (Locke 2007, 491). This combination of context and comparison gives us insight into how opera is affected by international relations and perceptions concerning the ‘elsewhere’ and attitudes and beliefs surrounding the ‘other.’
Applying multiple-context frameworks to musical exoticism within
Les Indes Galantes
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Locke applies this framework to the Peruvian act of Les Indes Galantes (1725, opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau). He asserts that “several phases in the drama of this section are revealing of Huascar and the oppressive non-Western social structure that he represents” (Locke 2007, 495). For example, Huascar rolls a boulder into a volcano, setting it into eruption in an attempt to scare Phani into running away with him. This can be placed into a historical context by pointing out how enlightenment writers would have viewed this negatively and attributed it to an act of intimidation, typical of authoritarian governments (Locke 2007, 499). This approach can also be applied to the standard enlightenment plot of a corrupted priest (Locke 2007, 500), situating it into the context of other works at the time. Something else to note is the inaccuracy of the costuming, an example of which can be seen below. Performers would become Incan onstage simply by adding beading and feathers, and the outfits would have remained European in architecture. By considering multiple contexts, we gain a more nuanced understanding of why Huascar was written this way, and how the ‘other’ was visually represented onstage.
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Figure 1: Costume sketch for Les Indes
Galantes. Louis-René Boquet, “Indes Galantes Incas”, 1770. Drawing, 213 x 130 mm. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bibliothèque-musée de l'opéra. |
Wolff offers a similar framework to account for exoticism that primarily considers historical contexts and international relationships between Venice, Paris, and the Ottoman empire and how these relationships affected opera in the eighteenth century. His intent is to combine varied approaches to music, opera, and exoticism within the eighteenth century, positioning them into the cultural context of the Enlightenment and into the international contexts of European-Ottoman relations (Wolff 2016, 6). Wolff briefly explores how Venetian perceptions of the Ottoman empire as ‘others’ were coloured by their military interactions, as the Venetian republic, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Ottoman empire shared a triple border. It’s likely that their more negative opinion of the Ottoman empire was a direct result of facing them in battle and their fascination was derived from proximity (Wolff 2016, 3).
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In this scene, Carlos reveals that the volcano was caused by Huascar, showing that he exhibits the negative traits often associated with non-European characters.
Source: Extract of a performance that took place in Paris in 2004. “Les Indes Galantes - Rameau - Les Incas du Pérou”. Youtube video. |
Figure 2: Antoine de Favray, “Portrait of Charles Gravier Count of Vergennes and French Ambassador, in Turkish
Attire”, 1766. Oil painting, 1 415 mm x 1 130 mm.
Istanbul: Pera Museum.
In contrast with their historically turbulent relationship with Venice, the Ottoman empire’s relationship to Paris was cordial, possibly explaining Rameau’s more positive positioning of the Ottoman empire expressed in “Le Turc généreux” (Wolff 2016, 51). Rameau’s Osman is shown to be sympathetic and generous, in contrast to more barbaric depictions in other works. This favorable outlook not only would have influenced French perceptions of the Ottoman empire but would commence a trend of generous Turkish men within opera (Wolff 2016, 65). Visual portrayals of Turkish male characters depict them as similar to European men, but as more masculine, explaining their frequent casting as bass voices (Wolff 2016, 5). With costuming, European performers would become Turkish simply by wearing a turban, an exotic costume, and occasionally donning a beard or mustache (Wolff 2016, 9), an example of which can be seen below. This superficial signification of the exotic Ottoman character makes clear that a serious engagement with Ottoman culture was not at stake – the portrayals (positive or negative) lived within the realm of the European imagination. Taken together, we can surmise that, although Turkish people were depicted as similar to Europeans in some respects, they were employed in opera to express emotions in more extreme, sometimes violent forms (Wolff 2016, 9).
By using a broader framework such as that of Locke or Wolff, we extend beyond what can be learned from the notes on the score. We generate “connections between opera and international relations” (Wolff 2016, 6), we gain a clear understanding of western European perceptions of the given ‘other,’ and we closely examine multiple elements which make up an operatic work. A broader framework that considers multiple contexts, as demonstrated in this essay, allows us to gain insight into how musical exoticism manifests in a given work and particularly in opera.
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Bibliography
LOCKE, Ralph P. 2007. “A Broader View of Musical Exoticism.” The Journal of Musicology vol. 24, no. 4 (Fall 2007): p. 477-521.
WOLFF, Larry. 2016. The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
WOLFF, Larry. 2016. The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.