The Making of Exoticism in French Operas of the 1890S a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Division of the University Of
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ASS) THE MAKING OF EXOTICISM IN FRENCH OPERAS OF THE 1890S A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MUSIC DECEMBER 2004 By Valeria Wenderoth Dissertation Committee: Lesley A. Wright, Chairperson E. Douglas Bomberger Karen Kennedy Donald R. Womack Marie-Jose Fassiotto To my husband Ray, who supported me throughout this journey with no hesitation, always helping and motivating me to achieve one ofmy greatest ambitions. To my daughter Elena, who has been patient when I was so busy. To my mother Jacqueline, who has always been a source ofinspiration in my life and whose assistance made my research possible. 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract. .iv List ofTables viii Introduction 1 Part One: THE MAKING OF THE EXOTIC 23 Chapter One The Idea ofthe Exotic in France .23 A. Aesthetics ofExoticism 23 B. French Exoticism: A Cultural Promotion ofthe Colonies 1. Historical Survey ofFrench Colonies 27 2. Les Expositions Universelles 32 3. French Expeditions 38 C. Exoticism in Nineteenth-Century French Literature .46 1. The Intangible Exotic: Bovarysm, Escapism, and Mysticism 49 2. The Existing Exotic: the Roman Colonial 54 3. Recurrent Themes ofFrench Exotic and Colonial Literature '" ..64 a. Love, Sexuality, and Miscegenation 65 b. Religious and Mystical Issues 71 c. Familiar Home and Formidable Landscapes 73 Chapter Two The Making ofExoticism in French Opera 84 A. Displaying the Exotic: Sets and Costumes 86 B. Telling and Speaking the Exotic: the Libretto 90 C. Echoing the Exotic: the Music 98 1. Musical Exploration ofthe "Odd" Wodd Beyond France 99 2. Operatic Codification ofthe Exotic 102 Signs ofMusical Exoticism 106 3. The Gradual Loss ofthe Exotic: Colonial Operas 116 VI Part Two: READING FIVE EXOTIC OPERAS OF THE 1890s 123 Chapter Three The Intangible Exotic: Thamara and Djeima 125 A. Thamara 1. The Libretto 127 2. The Music 142 B. Djeima 1. The Libretto 160 2. The Music 172 Chapter Four The Imaginary Other: Thai's 192 1. The Libretto 193 2. The Music 209 Chapter Five The Colonial Other: Le Spahi and L 'lie du reve 234 A. Le Spahi 1. The Libretto .238 2. The Music 258 B. L 'lie du reve 1. The Libretto .293 2. The Music 317 Conclusion 355 Bibliography 363 Vll LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 Exotic operas premiered in Paris (1862-1898) 105 Table 2-2 Exotic operas at the Opera-Comique and Opera (1890-1898) 117 Table 3-1 Thamara's dramatic layout and exoticism in the set. 131 Table 3-2 Thamara's dramatic events and exoticism in the music 145 Table 3-3 Djetrna's dramatic layout and exotic characteristics in the set.. " .. 166 Table 3-4 Djetma's dramatic events and exoticism in the music 175 Table 4-1 Thais' dramatic layout and exoticism in the set 199 Table 4-2 Thais' dramatic events and exoticism in the music 212 Table 5-1 Le Spahi's dramatic layout and exoticism in the set.. 245 Table 5-2 Le Spahi's dramatic events and exoticism in the music 263 Table 5-3 Le Spahi, Jean's Berceuse. Correlation text and music 280 Table 5-4 L'ite du reve's dramatic layout and exoticism in the set .308 Table 5-5 L'ite du reve's dramatic events and exoticism in the music.........320 viii INTRODUCTION The literary and musical phenomena produced by the vogue for exoticism in France developed throughout the colonial era, from the Second Empire to the Belle Epoque. Novels and poems inspired by distant lands, along with voyagers' diaries and sketches ofindigenous people and landscapes, increased in popularity; thus, too, did the taste for exotic musical instruments, melodies, and rhythms from the East Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Pacific regions. The Parisian expositions universelles of 1878, 1889 and 1900 further stimulated the interest in artistic exoticism. This trend eventually influenced opera composers and librettists as well. The subjects and music ofexotic operas changed throughout the nineteenth century, at first focusing on the remoteness ofthe locale and its fantastic qualities, and later emphasizing its differences from the West. This changing approach reflected a certain French perception ofthe exotic. The more faraway lands and colonies became accessible, the more their customs contrasted with French cultural and artistic principles. During the last decade of the nineteenth century, five newly written exotic operas premiered at the Opera and the Opera-Comique: Bourgault-Ducoudray and Gallet's Thamara, Lefebvre and Lomon's Djeima, Massenet and Gallet's Thai's, Lambert and Gallet/Alexandre's Le Spahi, and Hahn and Alexandre/Hartmann's L 'lie du reve. These five operas frame the evolution ofthe perception ofthe exotic in 1 France, even though the time span during which they were first produced is brief-only eight years, from 1891 to 1898. This short period represents the transition from old perceptions ofthe exotic (focusing on the dream) to the new ones (encompassing colonial reality). This study assesses how the five operas constructed and elaborated the exotic dimension in their libretti, scores, and stage settings. Each opera acknowledged and embraced the codification ofmusical and literary exoticism ofprevious works and incorporated those codes, but each also cultivated the languages ofexoticism in diverse fashion. By referring to scholarly publications on exoticism and semiological studies, this dissertation aims to approach the five operas through a deep reading oftext and music and show their interrelationship with the stage setting, in order to establish how the plurimedial combination of these arts represented exoticism. 1 I focus on three main themes that typically characterized exotic literature and opera in the late nineteenth-century: love, religion, and landscape. Love had been the central theme to inspire adventures and tragedy in both literature and opera for centuries. In exotic operas and novels, however, the tales oflove~ mostly based on sexual attraction~involved strangers in strange lands. After 1 Werner Wolfuses the term "plurimediality" as part ofa system ofrelationship between text and music. According to his definition, plurimediality means, "displaying signifiers that appear to belong to more than one semiotic system." Werner Wolf, "Intermediality Revised: Reflections on Word and Music Relations in the Context ofa General Typology of Intermediality," Word and Music Studies 4/1 (2002): 28. 2 various twists in the plot, these stories could end in only two ways. Love between two natives would succeed, but love between a native and a Westerner was doomed to fail. These operatic stories mirrored contemporary French law and Catholic dogma that forbade miscegenation (an interracial marriage or sexual relationship). The conservative ideology ofthe Catholic Church also influenced most ofthe public ofthe Opera and Opera-Comique, who expected composers and librettists to respect their values. The operatic spectacle, however, incorporated sensual female natives as dancers, princesses, and slaves. As in an erotic dream, such entertainment could offer a taste ofwhat French society would condemn, allowing briefdigressions from a prudish life style. The best setting for these dreams was thought to be a far-away land where vast landscapes displayed magnificence but suggested danger and adventure, and sumptuous palaces evoked grandeur. Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) initiated the discussion ofhow French and British colonial agendas affected exoticism in the arts.2 His work originated from an analysis ofWestern imperialist propaganda and colonization, and developed the view ofthe Orient as a massive entity victimized by Western domination. In the last ten years, several scholarly essays have continued the 2 Edward Said, Orientalism, 2d ed. (New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1994). 3 debate about Orientalism, adding more specific considerations ofgender and race to Said's idea ofimperialistic agenda.3 Reina Lewis, for example, explored European women's participation in nineteenth-century imperialist discourses.4 Jane Haggis and Marisa Formes criticized historical writings that looked at colonizing and colonized women as villains, victims, or heroines ofgender relations in the colonies, without engaging in accurate historical analyses.s Graham Dawson studied the imaginative construction ofimperial masculinity from historical, cultural, and psychological points ofview. The identification with the imperial hero, Dawson suggested, provided a fulfillment ofthe wish for true masculinity.6 Robert Young focused on the two-faceted concept ofhybridity (different races interbreeding) in British imperialistic culture; he interpreted hybridity as the production ofimpurity, and as a "latent expression ofdesire, and specifically sexual desire for the racial other(s)."7 John MacKenzie suggested that Orientalist European artists, far from trying to represent the Orient as inferior, were instead inspired by a nostalgia for the European past that they could find in 3 Edward Said and the Work ofthe Critic: Speaking Truth to Power, Paul A. Bove, ed. (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000) revises Said's thought and introduces new approaches to Orientalism. 4 Reina Lewis, Gendering Orientalism (New York: Routledge, 1996). 5 Jane Haggis, "White Women and Colonialism: Towards a Non-Recuperative History," in Gender and Imperialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998),45-75. Marisa Formes, "Beyond Complicity Versus Resistance: Recent Work on Gender and European Imperialism," Journal ofSocial History 25/3 (1995): 629-642.