160061 VO Verismo and Exoticism in Music Theatre Around 1900 (2015W)

Among the styles of European stage art around 1900 realism and exoticism are contrasts. The middle-class audiences were more interested in realistic background description than in representative subjects. The verismo promised to show true facts. Mascagni's „Cavalleria rusticana“, Leoncavallo's „Pagliacci“, Puccini's and Leoncavallo's „La Bohème“ were widely welcomed. The vocal expression and sound colours of the singers conveyed the 'real' psychological situation of the characters. On the contrary exoticism, which had a long tradition as theatrical means to demonstrate the ambit of power of colonial empires, flourished on stage. The world exhibitions raised the audiences' interest in exotic areas, especially as they could serve as escapes from industrial workplaces. Orientalism and Japonism infiltrated the subjects of operas of Delibes, Massenet, Puccini and Strauss. The composers integrated elements of the exotic music and thereby dissolved the bonds of traditional tonality. Around 1910 orientalism peaked in Paris. Sergej Djagilev's "Ballets Russes" promoted the fashion with Rimsky-Korsakov's „Scheherazade“ in Mikhail Fokine's choreography and Leon Baksts scenery, till the First World War began to expose the phantasmagoria.