Dramatic Alternatives

Dramatic Alternatives Exoticism, Operetta, and Verismo

Stereotyping the Other: “Orientalism” • Product of colonialism • Napoleon’s Egyptian campaigns (1798–99) • The Orient as license for the enjoyment of carnal fantasies

Stereotyping the Other: “Orientalism” • Félicien David (1810–76) – Le Désert (The Desert) (1844) • “Ode-Symphony”

Stereotyping the Other: “Orientalism” • Orientalism in Opera – Félicien David, Lalla-Roukh (1862) – Meyerbeer, L’Africaine (1865) – Léo Delibes (1836–91), Lakmé (1883) – Jules Massenet (1842–1912), Le roi de Lahore (1877) – Bizet, Les pêcheurs de perles (1863) – Ambroise Thomas (1811–96), Le Caïd (1849) – Camille Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila (1877)

Stereotyping the Other: “Orientalism” • Camille Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila (1877) • Act III ballet, Bacchanale [Anthology 2-63] • augmented seconds • asymmetrical rhythmic pattern

Bizet’s Carmen (1875) • Spanish gypsy, ethnic minority • Act I, “Habanera” (Cuban import) [Anthology 2-64]

Russian Orientalism • • • •

Stasov, “the Oriental element” Glinka, Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842) Balakirev, Tamara (1882) Borodin, Prince Igor (1890); In Central Asia (1880) • Rimsky-Korsakov, Antar (1868); Scheherazade (1888)

Russian Orientalism • Borodin, Prince Igor (1890) – Act II, “Polovtsian Dances” [Anthology 2-65] • • • •

melodic undulations chromatic pass from sixth scale degree to fifth throbbing drumbeat English horn as “snake-charmer’s” pipe

Gounod’s Opéra Lyrique • Paris Théâtre Lyrique (opened 1851) • Gounod, Faust (1859); Roméo et Juliette (1867)

Jacques Offenbach and Opera About Opera • Jacques Offenbach (1819–80) • Opéras comiques – one-act farces, spoken dialogue and musical numbers

• Opérettes (operetta) “little opera” • Opéra bouffe – full-evening works

• Librettist Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908)

Jacques Offenbach and Opera About Opera • Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) (1858) – Orpheus myth – galop infernale (cancan)

• Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Johann Strauss II The Waltz King and Viennese Operetta • Johann Strauss II (1825–99) “Waltz King” • Imperial and Royal Music Director of the Court Balls • Die Fledermaus (The Bat, 1874) – Act II dances [Anthology 2-66]

England’s Gilbert and Sullivan • Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) – composer • William S. Gilbert (1836–1911) – librettist • The Pirates of Penzance (1879) –“patter song” • Ruddigoe (1887) –patter ensemble [Anthology 2-67]

Italian Verismo • • • •

“Truthism” Naturalistic depictions Lower classes Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945) – Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry, 1890)

• Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919) – Pagliacci (Clowns, 1892) • “Vesti la giubba” [Anthology 2-68]

Innovation and Popularity “Canon” versus “Repertory” • Art vs. commerce • Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)

Giacomo Puccini’s Ascent • • • •

Manon Lescaut (1893) La bohème (1896) Tosca (1900) Madama Butterfly (1904–06) – local color • “The Star-Spangled Banner” • Japanese folk songs

– “Un bel di” (“One fine day”) [Anthology 2-69]

Giacomo Puccini’s Ascent • La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West, 1910) • La rondine (The Swallow, 1917) • Il tabarro (The Coat), Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), and Gianni Schicchi (1918) • Turandot (premiered posthumously 1926) – orientalism – last Italian opera to enter the permanent repertory