Opera Background
The Source: Gozzi's TurandotOrientalism in the Music of Turandot
Orientalism is the term used to describe Western fascination with the "exotic" cultures of the Eastern hemisphere. There have been many different periods of Orientalism in the Western world-from Turkish fads to crazes for anything Japanese or Arabian. Many works of art, including operas like Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Madama Butterfly, have illustrated and enforced the West's idea of the dangerous, sensual, alien East.Turandot is the product of early 20th Century Orientalism. Events such as the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when hundreds of thousands of Chinese rebels slaughtered foreigners and missionaries, led many Europeans to consider China a barbarian land. At the time that Turandot was being composed, China’s constant political unrest, its struggles to become a modern nation, and its ever-shifting relationship to the European powers captured the world’s attention. Turandot reflects the West’s interest in China’s culture and history.
In order to create a more "realistic" Chinese atmosphere, Puccini read many books on the culture and ceremonies of China. He also sought out real Chinese music to imitate. His two sources for this Chinese music were a music box owned by a friend, and Chinese Music, a booklet by J.A. van Aalst, published in Shanghai in 1884.
The following musical excerpts are some of the original Chinese tunes which inspired Puccini. (Click on musical examples to listen.)
You’ll hear this tune a lot—first in the Children’s chorus in Act I, and then echoed in the chorus and orchestra throughout the opera. In fact, it’s the most commonly quoted phrase in Turandot. Moo-Le-Wha, as it is named in English, became known in Europe at the end of the 18th century, and is actually mentioned in both an English travel book and a German music history book of the period.
The ministers—Ping, Pang, and Pong—make their first entrance with this music, but it is also the official and modern Imperial Hymn, which was composed in 1912.
Puccini used folk songs only for the music of Ping, Pang, and Pong; their music is really the only light music in the entire opera.
Puccini used at least eight authentic Chinese tunes in Turandot. Throughout the rest of the opera, Puccini used the pentatonic scale (the scale you hear when you play only the black keys on the piano) to create an "eastern" sound—a practice used by composers such as Bartok, Debussy, and Vaughn Williams in their efforts to musically evoke the East. Puccini also created "oriental" sounding harmonies by juxtaposing major and minor chords so that they sounded together, creating an eerie atmosphere which many musicologists feel represents barbarism.
Puccini’s composition techniques in Turandot were certainly his most advanced, and in this the opera deserves to be called his masterpiece. Though he never finished Turandot, it remains his most complex and complete work.
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