March 4: The musical sound of the "Gypsy” in 19th-century Europe

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Reading: Jonathan Bellman, “The Hungarian Gypsies and the Poetics of Exclusion,” in The Exotic in Western Music, pp.85-95, (Northeastern University Press, 1997).

Themes of Carmen

Feminine sexuality is dangerous and needs to be controlled
Repressed sexuality and reinforcing what love is supposed to look like in higher society
Desire versus obligation
Social disruption and Fate
- Romani women are disruptive
  - Carmen does not care about Don Jose’s rank, she comments on this and by doing so disrupting the social hierarchy
- Fate: their interactions are uncontrollable, the tarot cards
- The tragedy is Don Jose’s life being disrupted and how he changes
Cultural difference: strange customs strange/funny people
- how is Micaela different? How is she the standard

Questions for discussion:

1) What specific musical features were associated with “Gypsies”?

Scale: Harmonic Minor with raised 4th,

Wild ornamentation, glissando ornaments
Kuruc- fouths: a trumpet call figure that rebounds between the fifth scale degree and upper prime
Bokazo rhythm/cadence
Fiddle & guitar strumming
Bagpipe is imitated double reed instruments
Open fifths in the bass
Dotted rhythms and reverse dotted rhythms
Sudden accented Neapolitan
Augmented seconds
Dance forms
- Repetition
Fluctuating tempos, rubato, accelerando
Modal juxtaposition , unexpected triadic chords
Shrill sound in upper woodwinds

Effects:

Unexpected/untrained/uncivilized genius (do they know that it is smart)
Wild beauty
Losing control
A contrast from Western styles
Abnormal passions
Self abandonment

2) How are these features evident in the “Habanera”?

Open fifths in the bass
Dotted rhythms in the bass

Context in the Opera:

Introduction of Carmen & her freedom of her culture
Cigarettes are a cymbal of prostitution
Layers of exoticism: othering Spain (Especially the south),
The purpose/function of this piece is to keep the audience uncomfortable but wanting more
Habanera is a Cuban dance

Music:

Slide ornamentation - triplets
Rhythm - ostinato in the bassline - Cuban dance (its not Spanish which is adding to the layers of exoticism)
Rubato represents freedom
Chromaticism
Voice Type: Mezzo (not a soprano so she’s not a heroine)
It is a dance that is not associate with Romani culture but Cuban culture
Bizet took a Spanish melody and almost made a direct copy for the melody of Habanera
Instrumentation: Epidemy of the sound of the gypsy
- String band
- Pizzicato
- Hanmar duclimer
- Triangle tambourines
- Solo Clarient

Text:

Ensemble: You’ll play with fire
- Hell and antichristian
- She has control over the ensemble
Carmen:
- Uncivilized, constantly in trouble
- Dangerous
- Harmonically, this is stable and no exoticism so that the exoticism can be the main focus
- The comment about the child and her own culture
  - unlawful and uncivilized
  - it makes the rebellion feel less viable and unpatriotic because it stems from a child
- Love is compared to a bird and a child which makes the connection of a animalistic culture
- She is not conforming to gender norms by wanting a silent man