# European/American pieces exhibiting influence of world music (eg indian, chinese)?



## farmerjohn (Jan 24, 2013)

Are there any?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Plenty. Some of it, especially early on, was just exoticism for exoticism's sake, and not really seated in any deep love of the music of other cultures.

See the superficial use of pentatonic scales here:





Lots of classical music is made with a deep appreciation of the sounds of other cultures, though.

Influenced by Balinese Gamelan:





Lou Harrison (American) also loved the sounds of Gamelan, and wrote pieces influenced by that style, but I'll leave that for others to give recommendations.

Influenced by Japanese Gagaku:









Minimalist music is influenced deeply by the drones of Indian music, but again, I'll let others give examples.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Puccini used a lot of superficial asian touches in his two asian operas:
Turandot and Madame Butterfly.

See here an example from Turandot at 4:00


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

We recently had a thread that was a bit similar in content:
http://www.talkclassical.com/22702-looking-stuff-similar-rimsky.html


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Hovhaness wrote a decent amount, such as this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_on_Japanese_Woodprints


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Laideronette from Ma Mere L'Oye is a great example. There's also stuff like Weber's Turandot theme and Hindemith's variations on it; also the "Red Poppy Ballet" by Gliere.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Even the Nutcracker...


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

What about Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde"? The influence is not quite musical, but the text is a translation of Chinese lyrics.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Mahlerian said:


> Lou Harrison (American) also loved the sounds of Gamelan, and wrote pieces influenced by that style, but I'll leave that for others to give recommendations.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

double post


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Erik Satie's Gnoissiennes were influenced by hearing world music at the 1889 Paris Exhibition, and they have been described as a "curious mixture of Orientalism and Gregorian mysticism," one man even claiming there are fragments of a Romanian dance in one of them.

I don't know if it classifies as "world music," but back in the 1890s Edward MacDowell studied the music of American Indians.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

One could go back to the rather non-PC Turkish Marches used for "comic relief" in Beethoven and Mozart's time or maybe earlier. I was thinking Rameau did some pieces like this, but now I cannot track down or remember them. But again these may be superficial influences. I'm not really hearing any exotic scales being used. 

There are bits of superficial exoticism in the American composer Charles T. Griffes' "The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan."


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

SiegendesLicht said:


> What about Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde"? The influence is not quite musical, but the text is a translation of Chinese lyrics.


There are some parts of Das Lied von der Erde that have Eastern influences that are musical, the best example being the extensive use of the pentatonic scale in the 3rd movement.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Alexander Tcherepnin is a composer definitely worth looking into. He was very interested in exotic scales and invented his own. You will here much of the oriental in his music.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Mahlerian said:


> Lou Harrison (American) also loved the sounds of Gamelan, and wrote pieces influenced by that style, but I'll leave that for others to give recommendations.


In addition to Aleazk's example:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Probably the best-known Gamelan-influenced work is Colin McPhee's Tabuh-Tabuhan, written in the 1930s.


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