Frisch - “French Opera”

● Carmen by Georges Bizet → “no operatic work of the later nineteenth century better
embodies popular appeal, a strategic mixture of styles, and an engagement with issues
of social and ethnic identity than George Bizet’s Carmen (1875)” (168)
● Advanced architecture and technology for the opera houses
○ Patrons basically became part of the show
● Opera-comique → main competitor to the opera
○ Not comedic, but more human compared to the grand storylines that operas
usually had
● Bizet’s Carmen
○ Had to gloss over some parts / censor / change some things in order to make it fit
for family audiences
○ Summary:
■ Spanish soldier (Don Jose) is seduced by Carmen, who is a factory
worker who was arrested under his watch, leaves his job in order to join
her in her underground activities
■ Carmen abandons him for a matador named Escamillo, then is murdered
by Don Jose
○ Invented a middle class white woman in order to make it more tame and to
emphasize Don Jose’s conflict
○ Carmen is treated as a stereotype → promiscuous, allows audience to feel
superior to her
■ Later interpretations of the opera are more feminist
■ “Orientalist femme fatal and defiant heroine” (172)

Locke - Musical Exoticism—Images and Reflections

● The Roma (Gypsies) in life and image
○ After the Chiristian “Reconquista” → Roma in Spain were afraid of expulsion
○ Wanderers of SPanish society, but had many stereotypes about them
● “Abietta zingara”
○ Il trovatore → based upon the novel El trovador, where the libretto embodies all
the stereotypes of the gypsies
■ Set in early 15th century, when a lot of Roma arrived in Spain
○ Anvil Chorus → found at the beginning of Act 2, portrays the Roma as hard
workers
■ Marks the Roma as different from the rest of the opera’s characters
through the style of music they use → Easternness
● Gypsy characters and poor Andalusians
○ Carmen avoids some of the stereotypes of Gypsies, but emphasizes some of
them such as criminal activities (smuggling) and the beauty + promiscuity of the
women
○ Different impression compared to Il trovatore, since there’s more exotic numbers
in the work, more regional diversity due to where the opera is set
 ○ No Spanish music??
○ Us (Spain) vs Them/Other (Carmen + the Gypsies)
■ More complications due to Us/Them divide between north + south
Spaniards
○ Uses Spanish-style numbers + Andalusian style songs to perpetuate Us vs Them
■ Exotic- Style Paradigm
■ Minor-mode theme heard during the Prelude which recurs throughout the
story also adds to this

Bellman - “Middlebrow Becomes Transcendent: The Popular Roots of

Chopin’s Musical Language”
● Piano world = Cult of Chopin due to how expressive and beautiful his music is
● Why is Chopin’s music so popular, even after all these years?
○ Because the various influences that affected his music are pretty apparent
● Opera
○ Chopin’s composition teacher said that Chopin’s style for composing is suited for
the stage, even though he composed for piano
● Vernacular musics
○ Heavily ornamented and melodic sections, dance like characteristics in vocal
pieces
● Dance
○ Chopin had a lot of musical freedom during his developmental years, no parental
pressure
○ Not forced to go on tour or follow someone else’s commercial strategy in order to
make money, but rather did everything at his own pace
○ Interest in Polish folk + national music
■ Would find dance music publications (mazurkas and polonaises)
■ His first publication was a polonaise, then mazurkas
■ The prevalence of Russian / nationalistic dances is probably due to the
invasive Russian presence
○ Baroque dances began to be associated with different affects, and same began
to happen with the different national dances of each country
■ National dance → evoked both nationalism and stereotypes of the country
■ Mazurka → Chopin’s favorite

Fauser - “Le sacre du printemps: A Ballet for Paris”

● Ballet designed specifically for the French capital
● Fighting in the theater and conflict during the premier → led to more press coverage,
made more audience members want to watch it because of how much engagement it got
● Sacrificed women in the French stage → especially in ballets
○ Pagan rites, virgin sacrifices