Paradoxes of Western Ideas on China: Towards in the Ukrainian School
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32405/2308-8885-2023-2(108)-14-18Keywords:
Chinese theme in music, opera, orientalism, art education, education, older teenagers, high school studentsAbstract
The article is devoted to the relationship between the art of China and Western cultures, in particular European and American. The author’s goal is to outline the possibilities of using the “Chinese” theme presented by Western composers in the opera genre. Two variants of interest in Chinese culture are considered as an example of orientalism, traditional for Western European music, in its interpretation at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries and a modern view of real historical events and the actualization of the “documentary” or “political” opera genre. The first example is J. Puccini’s last opera “Turandot”, which is still considered to be the unsurpassed reading of Carlo Gozzi’s fairy-tale play. Innovative features of genre reading, musical themes of the opera and its dramaturgy are emphasized. At the same time, other well-known musical history attempts at interpretation of the fairy tale by composers (K.M. Weber, F. Busoni, P. Hindemith’s use of themes in symphonic music) are pointed out, which can serve as a guide for students and teachers to search for. The second example of opera with the “Chinese” theme is the opera “Nixon in China” by a modern American composer – a representative of minimalism in the music of J.K. Adams. The opera reflects real historical events of the relationship between the USA and China. The attention is focused on the application of the “theatre within the theatre” technique, traditional for the music-stage genre, since the composer used the popular and historically significant for China ballet “Red Women’s Squad” from the time of the Cultural Revolution in the opera. The opera is considered as an example of political musical theatre, the so-called documentary opera. The article has an educational nature and is addressed to Ukrainian high school students, art teachers and educators of other disciplines in institutions of general secondary education. It is possible to use the material at lessons not only in art, but also in history, geography and other courses to deepen emotional immersion in information, its understanding and optimization of the acquisition of knowledge by older teenagers and high school students. It is assumed that in this way the task of integrating art and art education with other educational fields will be realized.
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