Gypsy Music in European Culture: From the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries

by Anna G. Piotrowska, Guy R. Torr (Translator)

Overview

Translated from the Polish, Anna G. Piotrowska’s Gypsy Music in European Culture details the profound impact that Gypsy music has had on European culture from a broadly historical perspective. The author begins by identifying two models of discourse on Gypsy music: those of assimilation, as in the national music of Hungary and Spain, and nonassimilating types, which often fall into racial stereotypes and associations with the exotic. Using these broad typologies as a jumping-off point, she then details the stimulating influence that Gypsy music had on a variety of European musical forms, including opera, vaudeville, ballet, and vocal and instrumental compositions. The author analyzes the use of Gypsy themes and idioms in the music of recognized giants such as Bizet, Strauss, and Paderewski, detailing the composers’ use of scale, form, motivic presentations, and rhythmic tendencies, and also discusses the impact of Gypsy music on emerging national musical forms.This is the first comprehensive treatment of Gypsy musical forms and their impact on European musical taste and styles from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and will be welcomed by scholars and students in ethnomusicology, anthropology, cultural studies, and the history of music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555538385
Publisher:	Northeastern University Press
Publication date:	03/10/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

ANNA G. PIOTROWSKA is assistant professor in the Institute of Musicology at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow.

Table of Contents

Prologue
TWO MODELS OF DISCOURSE ON GYPSY MUSIC
Hungarian National Music
Spanish National Music
Gypsy Music and Exoticism
Gypsy Music and Race
GYPSY MUSIC IN THE WORKS OF NINETEENTH- AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMPOSERS
The Gypsy Idiom in Operas
Gypsy Themes in Operettas and Vaudevilles
Gypsy Motifs in Ballet
Gypsy Themes in Vocal Works
Gypsy Motifs in Instrumental Works
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Zinaida Kartasheva

“Anna G. Piotrowska has written an insightful look into the ways the music of the Romany people was understood and appropriated in Europe. Concentrating on the long nineteenth century, Piotrowska introduces readers to the use of Gypsy themes in various musical genres, from stage works to instrumental miniatures, and allows us to appreciate how academic discourse influenced the shaping of what can be called the topos of Gypsy music in European culture.”

Jeremy Yudkin

“An admirably thorough and thoughtful approach to a question that has vexed musicians and musicologists since the eighteenth century.”

Mikhail Uvarov

“Combining musicological knowledge with historical awareness and cultural perspective, Piotrowska takes the reader on a journey to several European countries and gives us a panoramic yet detailed presentation of the appropriation of Gypsy music, contextualizing compositions to their sociological and historical circumstances.”

Editorial Reviews

Anna G. Piotrowska has written an insightful look into the ways the music of the Romany people was understood and appropriated in Europe. Concentrating on the long nineteenth century, Piotrowska introduces readers to the use of Gypsy themes in various musical genres, from stage works to instrumental miniatures, and allows us to appreciate how academic discourse influenced the shaping of what can be called the topos of Gypsy music in European culture.” —Zinaida Kartasheva, Moscow State University of Culture and Arts

“An admirably thorough and thoughtful approach to a question that has vexed musicians and musicologists since the eighteenth century.” —Jeremy Yudkin, professor of music and chair of the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Boston University

“Combining musicological knowledge with historical awareness and cultural perspective, Piotrowska takes the reader on a journey to several European countries and gives us a panoramic yet detailed presentation of the appropriation of Gypsy music, contextualizing compositions to their sociological and historical circumstances.” —Mikhail Uvarov, Saint Petersburg State University

From the Publisher