The reflection of the Roma in European Art Music

Abstract

The A. deals with the construct of the Gypsy reflection in the mirror of the classical European musical tradition. Since the 15th century an idealizing and romanticizing tendency has contrasted against the history of persecution and expulsion of the Roma. This tendency is reflected above all in the female Gypsy stereotypes of Preciosa (Cervantes), Mignon (Goethe), Esmeralda (Hugo) and Carmen (Merimee) in « Singspiele » and operas. The European « Gypsy mode » in instrumnetal music began with the compositional adaptation of « verbunkos ». Listz and Brahms paved the way for a new romantic kind of pseudo-Gypsy music. Albeniz, Granados, de Falla, Ravel, Halffter, Rodrigo and many others broadened the range with Andalusians or impressionistic Gypsy genres. The ethnomusicological research of Bartok and Kodaly played a special role in this process