Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the most influential public figures in 18th-century Vienna. Two of his most impactful works on public opinion were an opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, and an instrumental, Violin Concerto No. 5. Throughout both of these compositions, Mozart employs musical exoticism in order to develop a stereotype of Turks as violent and intemperate and to simultaneously juxtapose this image against Western European ideals of rationality and composure.
In The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart paints a lurid picture of Turkish culture. The entrance of the Ottoman pasha is accompanied by a janissary chorus. In addition to the standard orchestral instruments of the time period, the chorus includes an array of Turkish instruments …show more content…
Throughout the chorus, the bass drum pounds out a militaristic “left, left, left, right, left” beat. The ornamented piping of the piccolo, the clashing cymbals, and the ringing triangle contribute to an overall noisy, oriental sound. Using these musical characteristics, Mozart suggests that Turks are strange and belligerent. Similarly, Mozart creates a rather unflattering caricature of Turks through Osmin, the opera's central Turkish character. Osmin’s aria is intermittent, full of starts and stops. Throughout the aria, there are often quiet pauses abruptly terminated by a startling sforzando, reflecting Osmin’s agitated emotional state. Likewise, the dynamics constantly fluctuate between extremes of piano and forte. The most unexpected shock is the onset of the allegro assai which Mozart intentionally inserts “just as one thinks the aria has ended." (Weiss 131) In this final part of the aria, the music accelerates and crescendos to a permanent high and the janissary instruments that were present in the chorus suddenly return in full. It is during this tumult that Osmin completely loses control his temper and chants out violent threats against Pedrillo. The strangeness of the
In The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart paints a lurid picture of Turkish culture. The entrance of the Ottoman pasha is accompanied by a janissary chorus. In addition to the standard orchestral instruments of the time period, the chorus includes an array of Turkish instruments …show more content…
Throughout the chorus, the bass drum pounds out a militaristic “left, left, left, right, left” beat. The ornamented piping of the piccolo, the clashing cymbals, and the ringing triangle contribute to an overall noisy, oriental sound. Using these musical characteristics, Mozart suggests that Turks are strange and belligerent. Similarly, Mozart creates a rather unflattering caricature of Turks through Osmin, the opera's central Turkish character. Osmin’s aria is intermittent, full of starts and stops. Throughout the aria, there are often quiet pauses abruptly terminated by a startling sforzando, reflecting Osmin’s agitated emotional state. Likewise, the dynamics constantly fluctuate between extremes of piano and forte. The most unexpected shock is the onset of the allegro assai which Mozart intentionally inserts “just as one thinks the aria has ended." (Weiss 131) In this final part of the aria, the music accelerates and crescendos to a permanent high and the janissary instruments that were present in the chorus suddenly return in full. It is during this tumult that Osmin completely loses control his temper and chants out violent threats against Pedrillo. The strangeness of the