Sabancı University, Spring 2010
HUM 414: ORIENTALISM IN WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC
Instructor:
H. Fulya Celikel
Prerequisite::
HUM 204: Major Works of Western Classical Music
OR
HUM 214: Major Works of Opera
Class Hours:
Wednesday, 10:40 am - 1:30 pm, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, G049
Course Description and goals:
This course is a detailed survey of the trend of Orientalism in Western music. It is structured chronologically from the sixteenth century, when what we now term Orientalism is observable in Western art and literature, to the early twentieth century. The subject matter will be organized on broadly diachronic lines, and will include considerations of periodisation and of the landmark events in the history of colonization and empire. It will also be arranged into various thematic and methodological strands, including an overview of social sciences in general, compositional intention of the mentioned works, the interplay of Orientalism with Exoticism, the implications of Imperialism, and relevant critical responses to Said’s influential Orientalism. In keeping with this wide perspective, music will be treated not in isolation but in a broader artistic context that comprises also painting and literature. By the end of the semester, students will have an awareness of the main practitioners of the trend and a solid perspective on the diverse ways in which Orientalism has been manifested in music and partially other arts. Although no music theory is required to take the course, some basic terminology will be needed in order to illustrate such key concepts as text/music relationships and stylistic hybridization. Therefore, HUH 204 or HUM 214, defining these key concepts, are prerequisites for this course.
Course Format:
The course will be conducted through a combination of lectures, discussions, use of audio-visual material (slideshows, handouts, music CDs, opera and concert DVDs), and excursions depending on availability. In case excursions are not available, student presentations will be included in course content. The assigned readings cover a substantial part of the course material. However, attendance and discussion participation are essential because lectures will provide a range of information not covered in the assigned readings. Students should make sure not only to keep up with the readings, but also to take notes in class in order to be successful.
Class attendance:
Students are required to attend every lecture.
Assessment and Grading Procedures:
Each student’s work will be graded on a strictly individual basis according to the following arrangements:
(1) A midterm and a final exam: will cover materials introduced in class, excursions and in readings. Both exams will be composed of multiple-choice questions and short identification questions based on music samples. On examinations students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge of sources (lectures, discussions, and readings), and to compare and combine data.
(2) Paper: A four-page term paper will address an issue or a problem in the subject matter of the course. The paper should reflect relevant information. Please be exact and specific, avoid general statements, and try to be clear. Use of academic resources and proper citation techniques is a requirement. Please give at least one relevant example for each point in your discussion. All cases of academic dishonesty (such as plagiarism, use of someone else’s papers, or cheating, etc.) are strictly forbidden.
(3) Class participation and discussion activity: This will include student presentations on a given topic, as well as attendance and idea exchange during class hours.
(4) Two response papers: Two Museum trips (to Pera Museum to see the Orientalist Paintings collection and to Military Museum to listen to Mehter Music foreeen for the summer term) are incorporated into the course syllabus. Depending on availability, concert or opera performances will also be recommended. The students are required to write short response papers concerning these trips.
Grading:
Midterm exam: 20 %
Paper: 30 %
Final exam: 20 %
Two response papers: %10
Class/discussion attendance and participation (includes a student presentation of a given work): 20 %
Required Reading and Listening:
The required readings for the course will be posted to Sucourse under Learning Modules. The students are responsible for the background reading in the syllabus for each week. The most important listening segments will also be included, as well as other relevant audio-visual material and web resources.
SYLLABUS
UNIT 1: THE FOUNDATIONS OF ORIENTALISM
Day 1: Introduction to Orientalism in the Social Sciences: Brief introduction to the rise of the Ottomans; European perspectives on Ottoman civilisation.
Background Reading:
Gulbenkian Commission, “The Historical Construction of the Social Sciences, from the Eighteenth Century to 1945”.
Locke, “A Broader View of Musical Exoticism,” pp. 476-85.
Macfie, Orientalism, pp. 218-24 (“Orientalism: A Chronology 1757-1914“).
Audio/Visual Examples:
Josquin Desprez. Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi (CD)
Heinrich Isaac, instrumental piece ‘Allah huh,’ on Alla Turca – Oriental Obsession (Sarband, 2001) (CD).
Music in Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire around 1700 (CD)
Day 2: 16th and 17th Centuries: From Renaissance to Baroque. Venice as the “Gates of the Orient.”
Background Reading:
Bowles, “The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries.”
Whaples, “Early Exoticism Revisited.”
Excursion: Sabanci Museum: “Love by Any Other Name:” An Exhibition on Venice and Istanbul During the Ottoman Period
UNIT 2: THE BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL PERIODS
Day 3: Late 17th- early 18th Century: Turkish-Themed Italian operas.
Background Reading:
Cross, “Vivaldi and the Pasticcio.”
Meyer, “Turquerie and Eighteenth-Century Music,” pp. 474-77.
Locke, “A Broader View,” pp. 500-05.
Liner notes to CD Vivaldi, Antonio: Bajazet (Virgin Classics, 2005).
Audio/Visual Examples:
Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet. (CD/DVD)
Georg Friedrich Handel: Tamerlano (DVD) and Belshazzar (CD)
Day 4: Baroque Opera in France: Lully, Rameau. The Court of Louis XIV.
Background Reading:
Rice, “Representations of Janissary Music (Mehter) as Musical Exoticism in Western Compositions, 1670-1824,” pp. 41- 64.
Obelkevich, "Turkish Affect in the Land of the Sun King."
Locke, “A Broader View,” pp. 494-500.
Audio/Visual Examples:
Jean Baptiste Lully: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (CD)
Jean Philippe Rameau: Les Indes Galantes, (DVD)
Day 5: Rise of the Classical Style: 2nd Siege of Vienna and its Implications. The Viennese School: Salieri, Haydn, Mozart
Background Reading:
Hunter, “The Alla Turca Style in the late Eighteenth Century: Race and Gender in the Symphony and the Seraglio.”
Rice, “Representations of Janissary Music (Mehter) as Musical Exoticism in Western Compositions, 1670-1824,” pp. 64-76.
Betzwieser, Thomas. 1994. "Exoticism and Politics: Beaumarchais' and Salieri's Le couronnement de Tarare (1790)."
Audio/Visual Examples:
Antonio Salieri: Tarare (DVD).
Joseph Haydn: L’incontro improvviso (CD).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Mozart in Turkey (DVD).
Milos Forman: Amadeus (DVD).
UNIT 3: ROMANTICISM
Day 6: French Revolution, the Rise of Nationalism and the Greek Independence: Beethoven.
Background Reading:
Rice, “Representations of Janissary Music (Mehter) as Musical Exoticism in Western Compositions, 1670-1824,” pp. 76-82.
Kramer, “The Harem Threshold: Turkish Music and Greek Love in Beethoven's ‘Ode to Joy’.”
Audio/Visual Examples:
Ludwig van Beethoven: The Ruins of Athens (CD).
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (DVD).
Day 7: Midterm examination (covered material)
Day 8: Early Romanticism: Germany and Italy.
Background Reading:
Ringer, “On the Question of "Exoticism" in 19th Century Music."
Gramit, “Orientalism and the Lied: Schubert’s Du Liebst Mich Nicht.”
Yeazell, “Harems for Mozart and Rossini.”
Audio/Visual Examples:
Settings of poems from Goethe’s West-östlischer Divan (CD).
Franz Schubert: “Du Liebst Mich Nicht” (CD); Carl Maria von Weber: Abu Hassan (CD).
Carl Maria von Weber: Turandot (CD).
Rossini: Il Turco in Italia (DVD).
Day 9: Mid-Century Orientalism: Paris as the Cultural Capital of Europe.
Background Reading:
Locke, “Constructing the Oriental ‘Other’: Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila.”
Parakilas, “The Soldier and the Exotic: Operatic Variations on a Theme of Racial Encounter.”
Locke, "Reflections of Orientalism in Opera and Musical Theater."
Audio/Visual Examples:
Georges Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles. (DVD)
Léo Delibes: Lakmé (DVD).
Camille Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah (DVD).
Day 10: The Effect of Imperialism on Music: The opening of the Suez Canal, Verdi.
Background Reading:
Said, “The Empire at Work: Verdi’s Aida.”
MacKenzie, “Occidentalism, Counterpoint and Counter-polemic.”
Locke, “Cutthroats and Casbah Dancers, Muezzins and Timeless Sands: Musical Images of the Middle East.”
Audio/Visual Examples:
Giuseppe Verdi: Aida (DVD).
Day 11: Russia and Scandinavia: Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Grieg
Background Reading:
Taruskin, “Entoiling the Falconet: Russian Musical Orientalism in Context.”
Scott, “Orientalism and Musical Style.”
Audio/Visual Examples:
An Oriental Night with the Berliner Philharmoniker (DVD).
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (CD).
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake and Nutcracker (CD).
Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt (CD).
UNIT 4: LATE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURY
Day 12: Fin-de-Siècle 1. Exoticism, World’s Fairs.
Background Reading:
Briscoe, “Asian music at the 1889 Paris Exposition.”
Cooke, “The East in the West”: Evocations of the Gamelan in Western Music.”
Mueller, “Javanese Influence on Debussy’s Fantaisie and Beyond.”
Audio/Visual Examples:
Claude Debussy: “Fantaisie,” “Et la lune...,” “Pagodes” (CD).
Day 13: Fin-de-Siècle 2: Strauss, Puccini.
Background reading:
de Van, “Fin de Siècle Exoticism and the Meaning of the Far Away.”
Kramer, “Culture and Musical Hermeneutics: the Salome Complex.”
Locke, “A Broader View,” pp. 511-19.
Audio/Visual Examples:
Richard Strauss: Salome (DVD); Giacomo Puccini: Turandot (DVD) and Madama Butterfly.
Day 14: Early 20th Century: Postcolonial Era
Background reading:
Born and Hesmondhalgh, “On Difference, Representation and Appropriation in Music.”
MacKenzie, “Orientalism in Music,” pp. 165-71.
Audio/Visual Examples:
Benjamin Britten: The Prince of the Pagodas (CD).
Edward Elgar: In Smyrna.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Al-Taee, Nasser. 2001. “Fidelity, Violence, and Fanaticism: Orientalism in Wranitzky's ‘Oberon, König der Elfen’.” Opera Quarterly, Vol. 17, Issue 1, pp. 43-69.
Bellina, Anna Laura, Bruno Brizi, and Maria Grazi Pensa. 1998. "Il pasticcio Bajazet: La ‘favola’ del Gran Tamerlano nella messinscena di Vivaldi." In Nuovi studi vivaldiani: Edizione e cronologia critica delle opere (Florence: Olschki), pp. 185-272.
Betzwieser, Thomas. 1994. "Exoticism and Politics: Beaumarchais' and Salieri's Le couronnement de Tarare (1790)." Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp. 91-112.
Born, Georgina, and Desmond Hesmondhalgh. 2000. “On Difference, Representation and Appropriation in Music.” In Western Music and its ‘Others’: Difference, Representation and Appropriation in Music (Berkeley: University of California Pres), pp. 1-43.
Bowles, Edmund A. 2006. "The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Early Music, Vol. 34, Issue 4, pp. 533-54.
Briscoe, James. R. 1991. “Asian Music at the 1889 Paris Exposition.” In Yoshihiko Tokumaru, et al., eds. Tradition and its Future in Music (Osaka: Mita), pp. 495-501.
Cooke, Mervyn. 1998. “’The East in the West’: Evocations of the Gamelan in Western Music,” In Jonathan Bellman, ed. The Exotic in Western Music (Boston: Northeastern University Press), pp. 258-81.
Cross, Eric. 1995. “Vivaldi and the Pasticcio: Text and Music in Tamerlano.” In Iain Fenlon and Tim Carter, eds., Con che soavita: Studies in Italian Opera, Song, and Dance, 1580-1740 (Oxford: Clarendon Press), pp. 275-311.
de Van, Gilles. 1995. “Fin de Siècle Exoticism and the Meaning of the Far Away.” Opera Quarterly Vol. 11, Issue 3, pp. 77-94.
Gramit, David. 2003. “Orientalism and the Lied: Schubert’s Du Liebst Mich Nicht." 19th Century Music, Vol. 27, Issue 2, pp. 97-115.
Gulbenkian Comission. 1996. “The Historical Construction of the Social Sciences, from the Eighteenth century to 1945”. In V. Y. Mudimbe, ed., Open the Social Sciences: Report of the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences (Stanford: Stanford University Press), pp. 1-32.
Head, Matthew. W.. 2000. Orientalism, Masquerade and Mozart’s Turkish Music. London : Royal Music Association.
Hunter, Mary. 1998. “The Alla Turca Style in the late Eighteenth Century: Race and Gender in the Symphony and the Seraglio”. In Jonathan Bellman, ed. The Exotic in Western Music, (Boston: Northeastern University Press), pp. 43-73.
Kiang, Dawson. 1992. “Josquin Desprez and a Possible Portrait of the Ottoman Prince Jem in Capella Sistina MS. 41.” Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, Vol. 54, Issue 2, pp. 411-26.
Kramer, Lawrence. 1990. “Culture and Musical Hermeneutics: the Salome Complex.” Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 269-94.
______. 1998. “The Harem Threshold: Turkish Music and Greek Love in Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy’.” 19th Century Music, Vol. 22, Issue 1, pp. 78-90.
Locke, Ralph P. 1991. “Constructing the Oriental ‘Other’: Saint-Saens’s Samson et Dalila.” Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 3, pp. 261-302.
______. 1993 "Reflections of Orientalism in Opera and Musical Theater." Opera Quarterly Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp. 48-64.
______. 1994. “Cutthroats and Casbah Dancers, Muezzins and Timeless Sands: Musical Images of the Middle East” ”. In Jonathan Bellman, ed. The Exotic in Western Music (Boston: Northeastern University Press), pp. 104-36.
______. 2007. “A Broader View of Musical Exoticism.” The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 24, Issue 4, pp. 477–521.
Lustig, Roger. 1991. “Händels Oper ‘Tamerlano’ in historischer Perspektive.” Händel-Jahrbuch, Vol. 37. pp. 49-55.
Macfie, Alexander L. 2002. Orientalism. London: Pearson Education.
MacKenzie, John M. 1993. “Occidentalism: Counterpoint and Counter-polemic.” Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 19, pp. 339-44.
______. 1995. “Orientalism in Music.” In Orientalism: History, Theory and the Arts (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp.138-75.
Meyer, Eve R. 1974. "Turquerie and Eighteenth-Century Music." Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 7, Issue 4, pp. 474-88.
Mueller, Richard. 1986. “Javanese Influence on Debussy’s Fantaisie and Beyond.” 19th Century Music, Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 157-86.
Obelkevich, Mary R. 1977. “Turkish Affect in the Land of the Sun King.” Musical Quarterly, Vol. 63, Issue 3, pp. 367-89.
Parakilas, James. 1993/94 “The Soldier and the Exotic: Operatic Variations on a Theme of Racial Encounter.” Opera Quarterly, Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 33-56.
Rice, Eric. 1999. “Representations of Janissary Music (Mehter) as Musical Exoticism in Western Compositions, 1670-1824.” Journal of Musicological Research, Vol.19, Issue 1, pp. 41-76.
Ringer, Alexander L. 1965. “On the Question of ‘Exoticism’ in 19th Century Music.” Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 7, pp. 115-23.
Said, Edward W. 1975. Orientalism. London: Vintage.
______. 1994. “The Empire at Work: Verdi’s Aida.” In Culture and Imperialism (London: Vintage), pp.133-59.