Music as a literary device has continually fused an array of styles from different cultures. The cultural fusion in music tries to portray sensual themes that are often evaded or outlawed in the contemporary society. Exoticism is a musical approach embraced by Western composers like George Bizet and Benjamin Britten to depict issues that were alien and revolting to the western audience. Exoticism is defined as the incorporation of foreign elements to the native’s music and theatre (Lecture 2/26). Ralph Locke proposes a broader definition that captures the five essential characteristics of exotic works. Locke’s definition identifies exoticism as a process musically depicts a real place, people or culture that is deemed different from the home country. The place evoked bears some resemblance to the native state and the difference emotionally challenges the complacency of the listener. The contrast of the evoked places might be hidden or readily apparent and that the performance of the work transcends time and cultures (Locke, 47). Locke’s definition is broad and creates a spectrum of exoticism from pure exoticism to transcultural composing. The transcultural composition is not an act of ‘othering’ but a creation of a hybrid of the alien style and the western style (Lecture 2/26). The paper purposes to ascertain the exotic spectrum in George Bizet’s Carmen
and analyze gamelan inspiration in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice.
Carmen
George Bizet’s Carmen is a composition that is designated as a pure exoticism on the exoticism spectrum. Carmen in the opera is a gypsy girl smuggler that is entangled in a love triangle that leads to her murder. Carmen, the character is a representation of the gypsy lifestyle that was stereotyped by the French Middle Class (Frisch, 170). The promiscuity, the criminality and the adventurous spirit portrayed by was something that was foreign to the French middle-class women who were represented by the more refined and reserved Micaela.
The exotic elements were not only portrayed in the characterization but also in the music-dramatic approach of the opera (Frisch, 171). In one sense the opera appears to be western since the play employs the use of spoken dialogue in the musical numbers. The use of instruments like the castanets and the tambourines do however introduce the gypsy culture into the opera. These use of foreign apparatus to replace the distinct and refined western instrument is huge evidence of exoticism in the play. The Spanish styled dances are also a strong indication of the gypsy culture. The melodies and the rhythms used are a further invasion of the western opera by the gypsy. The parts played by Micaela are however characterized by the use tuneful music that conforms to the opera conventions of the time.
The play essentially falls on the pure section of the exoticism spectrum due to its unique arrangement. The play introduces two distinct social settings that show a conflict between two cultures. There is a definite separation between the native culture and the foreign culture. For instance, in a duet style performance, Carmen dialogues with Don Jose. The foreign elements are distinct in Carmen’s performance since it is simple and filled with repetition. Her performance involves a seductive dance and the use of the foreign castanet. In response, Don Jose uses the native approach using a passionate aria (Frisch, 171). Don Jose’s part is lyrically broad, uses chromatic harmony and has a steady rhythm which are critical characterizations of western music. Bizet does the “othering” by using Spanish music which is non-diegetic for Carmen and the diegetic French Ballad style for the native Don Jose (Lecture, 3/5). The opera does not attempt to breed the native culture with the foreign cultures; it instead provides discrete segregation.
Death in Venice
Death in Venice is an opera by Benjamin Britten that uses gamelan inspiration to depict the shunned theme of homosexuality in the western culture. Britten and his homosexual lover Pears were a social misfit of their time, and the opera provided them with the chance to exercise their freedom and views. The relationship was socially unacceptable, and medical science considered it a disorder (Lecture 3/1). The homosexual relationship was alien, and thus its presence in Death in Venice alludes to an exotic style. In the opera, Gustav Aschenbach develops an uncontrollable passion for a Polish boy Tadzio while visiting Venice. The love for Tadzio is socially forbidden, but Gustav remains obsessed with it and perishes from an epidemic since he could not leave Tadzio and therefore the disaster-stricken Venice Taruskin, 255).
Britten imposes elements of Balinese gamelan music to describe the character Tadzio. Tadzio only dances and does not sing in the opera. Tadzio only dances a characteristic that evidences gamelan inspiration in the opera. The boy dances to gamelan music while the opera is decorated with oriental colors. Britten was introduced to the gamelan music by McPhee who had resorted to the sexual freedoms offered in Bali (Taruskin 256). In the opera, Britten has fused western music with gamelan music in the scenes depicted by Tadzio. The exotic scenes and dances are an indication of the remoteness between Gustav and Tadzio (Lecture, 3/5). The exotic scenes are part of the music and are not indicative of the “other.”
Death in Venice is easily classified as a transcultural composing in the exoticism spectrum. The use of foreign elements in the play is not intended to segregate the foreign aspects of the characters. The Balinese dance scenes and the music used are not formed to segregate Tadzio from other characters in the opera. It is essentially a hybrid of styles that attempts to marry the native and foreign cultures (Lecture, 2/20). The representation of the “other” in the play is introduced through the theme of Gustav’s homosexual attraction. It is the theme and not the musical approach that defines the “other” in the opera.
Stylistic Comparison
In comparison, Bizet’s approach in Carmen in defining the “other” is different from Britten’s approach in Death in Venice. Bizet uses Spanish music, instruments, and characters to define the others in his opera. The stylistic difference announces the introduction of foreign cultures in the play. The clear distinction between foreign and native in the Bizet’s opera labels it as a pure exoticism. For Britten, the exotic spectrum is defined by the theme and not the music. Britten’s opera fuses the gamelan style and the western style and uses them to further the themes of the opera. Britten does not separate the thematic expression of the two cultures; he mixes them towards a single thematic narrative.
Conclusion
George Bizet’s opera, Carmen, is a pure work of exoticism while Death in Venice by Britten is a transcultural composing. Bizet uses instruments, musical rhythm, characterization and Spanish music to label the “other” in his opera. Bizet only uses the theme to label the “other” while fusing western and gamelan musical styles to advance the opera. The two operas are exotic despite their varying spectrums since they have transcended time and culture to serve as objects of contemporary debates.
Works Cited
Frisch, Walter. Music in the nineteenth century. WW Norton, 2013.
Lecture, notes 3/1, 2018
Lecture, notes 3/5. 2018
Lecture, notes 2/20. 2018
Lecture notes, 2/26. 2018
Locke, Ralph. "Musical Exoticism: Images and Reflections–By Ralph P. Locke." Journal for Eighteenth‐Century Studies 35.2 (2012): 274-275.
Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Early Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press, 2006.
