Anti-Climacus

QUOTE: from this article on Orientalism in classical music:

"Before you throw away those tickets to Madama Butterfly (and cancel that pre-concert meal at Wagamama), you might want to consider one episode in the history of musical "Orientalism." Three centuries ago, Europe was obsessed with "Turkish" music. Ottoman ambassadors visiting Europe often brought along their own ceremonial bands called mehter. The musicians blew piercing wind instruments, crashed cymbals and triangles, and most dramatically, thumped on an enormous bass drum. For those accustomed to the more refined sound of European court orchestras, the effect was thrilling. Before long, Turkish fashion swept European capitals. Many European courts employed their own mehter, and Western music underwent subtle (and not so subtle) changes. The piccolo grew in orchestral prominence, while fortepianos came accessorized with pedals that could operate "Turkish" cymbals or bells. The Turks, meanwhile, did some cultural appropriation of their own, abandoning their straight trumpets for the looped-tube variety invented in Europe.

"Alla turca" music became the rage. Mozart's 1782 opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, is one of the best-known examples, though countless symphonies and sonatas of the time were also embellished with "Turkish" themes or movements. By the time of Beethoven, experimentation with Turkish instruments hardly raised an eyebrow — they had been swallowed up in the standard European orchestra. When was the last time you heard the ecstatic finale of Beethoven's Ninth, and identified the section with bass drum, triangles and cymbals as a "Turkish" march?

There's much to celebrate in this story. Both cultures were enriched by their encounter, both were changed, both were "guilty" of cultural appropriation. Cultural promiscuity is almost always a profoundly creative act. Music and the arts thrive when they open themselves up to foreign influences. When they remain insulated and protected, they often become fossilized rituals devoid of emotional relevance."