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CHAPTER 21 1. What is the difference between exoticism and nationalism? Why do you think Chopin was considered a nationalist composer whereas Robert Schumann was not? Exoticism emphasizes otherness and outsiderness for an audience of insiders (e.g., Gottschalk in Europe). While this process highlights strange and foreign nationality, it is not the same thing as nationalism, which consists of embodying nationhood in more “universal” forms (e.g., Chopin’s Ballade in G minor, which tells the story of Poland without using specifically Polish-sounding musical material, which would be exoticizing). Exoticism points out what makes a nation different; nationalism conveys what makes a nation united. Chopin was considered a nationalist because his nationality (Polish) did not actually exist at the time, at least on maps. His identity was thus tied to being an oppressed outsider. Schumann was not considered a nationalist because his origins and compositional style (German) were seen as universal and “unmarked.” Because of its dominance, German music was seen as simply “music,” while that of marginalized nationalities was marked with national/ethnic difference (e.g., “Polish music”). 2. Which works of Chopin are overtly “Polish,” and how is the Polishness expressed musically? Chopin’s most characteristically Polish works are his krakowiaks, polonaises, and mazurkas, all of which are based on native dance forms. Polishness is expressed through exotic rhythms (to Western European ears), including syncopation (krakowiak) and strongly accented triple meter (mazurka). Further, mazurkas often feature tonic or tonic-fifth drones associated with the Polish bagpipe (duda). More abstractly, the perceived Polishness of Chopin’s music was simply the result of the composer’s well-known Polish roots; audiences heard him as a Polish composer, therefore, regardless (despite) the actual music. The biography of the composer creates different contexts of interpretation for the listener. 3. Describe the musical form of Chopin’s Ballade in G Minor. How does this form express narrative content? In what respects is it a nationalistic work? The Ballade in G minor uses elements of sonata form to achieve a forward-thrusting, goal-driven momentum that is at once traditional and highly idiosyncratic. It begins with a hushed and gentle mood and builds to a dramatic, intense conclusion. Its narrative content comes through in the regular repetitions of the main themes, which musically mirror the recurring stanza structure of ballad poetry. Every time a theme is repeated, it is transformed to reflect the development of the narrative. The Ballade is loosely modeled on the nationalistic poetry of Chopin’s Polish compatriot Adam Mickiewicz. While the piece does not employ any specifically Polish musical elements, it was heard as a universal statement of Polish empowerment: Nationalism thus transcended the exotic. 4. How did American political and cultural conditions affect the attitudes toward music and art in the United States? America in the middle of the nineteenth century was a young country with an ambivalent relationship to European-style art music. Americans looked to Europe for artistic guidance, and many major composers and performers visited the U.S. (e.g., Jenny Lind’s highly-publicized concert tour of 1850). However, America’s democratic and non-hierarchical culture—founded upon its revolutionary history—viewed the European split between “high” and “low” culture skeptically. Italian opera (in English) and Shakespeare co-existed with popular theater and minstrelsy on the American stage. 5. Why was Gottschalk perceived differently in Europe than in the United States? What types of works did he write for the two different audiences? In Europe, Gottschalk was perceived as an exotic “other”: He was an American and (more specifically) a Louisiana Creole. For this audience, he wrote music showcasing aspects of his faraway birthplace, particularly elements of African-American music (e.g., Bamboula, La savane, and Le bananier). In America he was also perceived as “other,” though of a very different type: Gottschalk to Americans was representative of European sophistication and class. In his U.S. concerts, he performed sentimental parlor-piano compositions intended for domestic consumption (e.g., The Last Hope, The Maiden’s Blush, and The Dying Poet). 6. Why was Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar considered the first true Russian opera? What does it mean to say that his work was “nation-embodying”? A Life for the Tsar was not technically the first Russian opera, although it successfully synthesized a number of elements that led many to consider it a first (and a uniquely “nationembodying” first at that). Glinka employed a Russian folk idiom that evoked traditional singing styles while rarely quoting them directly. Rather, he blended source materials (the sound of the Herderian “Folk”) with the latest international compositional techniques to create an “organic unity” that simultaneously projected Russianness while also adhering to universal (i.e., Western European) values. It was “nation-embodying” because it asserted Russian’s musical presence on the European stage in a language that was both different (exotic) and familiar (universal). 7. Describe the various influences on A Life for the Tsar, from Italian opera, French opera, and Russian folklore. In what respects was this opera politically and socially conservative? A Life for the Tsar synthesizes influences from a diverse range of sources. From Italian opera, Glinka adopted virtuoso vocal numbers, accelerating tempos, and ensemble finales; from French opera, recurring themes, choruses, “grandness,” and ballet; from German opera, counterpoint, harmonic complexity, and opulent orchestration; and from his native Russia, melodic material derived from folk models. Despite the stylistic diversity of the work, however, the opera was politically and socially conservative in its conformity to the “official nationalism” propagated by Tsar Nikolai (the Tsar even suggested the name of the opera). The opera’s plot deals with the creation of a national mythology that served ideological purposes; it musically encapsulates national conflict by representing “us” (Russia) versus “them” (Poland); and it promotes submission to authority, both political and religious. 8. What is innovative about the way Glinka uses folk songs in Kamarinskaya? Kamarinskaya is based on two Russian folk tunes, a dance song and a lyrical wedding song. Noticing the similarities between the two, Glinka structured his orchestral fantasy as a “mash up” of the two: While they begin in contrast, the two pieces gradually merge, the one morphing into the other. The piece exhibits a high degree of motivic saturation (à la Beethoven), placing Russian folk sources into the context of the most advanced compositional practices of the day.