Course Description

This course examines how composers and performers in Europe and the US have responded to the musics of Asia. The course takes a more or less historical approach, beginning with 18th-century imitations of Turkish music, through the orientalism and exoticism of the 19th and early 20th centuries, to 20th- and 21st-century attempts to synthesize East and West. "Popular" music will be considered as well as classical. Reading, listening and viewing assignments will cover repertory by composers like Mozart, Delibes, Debussy, Puccini, Messiaen, Britten, Takemitsu, Tan Dun and Lou Harrison.