The Cross-Cultural Influences in Classical Music: East Meets West

One of the most engaging and inspirational areas of music is where Eastern and Western cultures intersect. Over hundreds of years of cultural history, fruitful exchange of ideas and artistic expressions have given rise to exceptional works of art

One notable example is Marco Polo’s travels to China during the 13th century along what came to be known as the Silk Road.

The intrepid explorer’s activities opened up trade routes between Europe and Asia that encouraged a rich cultural exchange and exposed Europeans to new sounds and musical traditions that would have been completely new.

The Transformation of Instruments Across Cultures

Plotting a precise line of influence from East to West is a major challenge. Where we can almost certainly trace Eastern elements with Western culture is in changes in instruments. It is thought that a considerable number of new instrumental innovations arose as a result of this cross-cultural influence.

Instruments such as the Oud that evolved into the Lute. The humble tambourine derived from the Riqq, and of course, the bowed Rebec. These instruments added significant possibilities for musicians and composers alike.

Eastern Melodies and Tales in Medieval Western Music

Additionally, throughout the Mediaeval period of music, you would have found travelling musicians, actors and poets who may have ventured thousands of miles during their lifetimes.

These intrepid creatives would have brought back to Europe, Eastern ideas of rhythm, harmony and melodies that would have gradually been absorbed into mainstream Western culture.

There would also have been a host of stories from these travels that almost certainly would have fed into the songs of the Troubadours and left their footprint for future generations of musicians to exploit.

Influence of Eastern Music on Western Composers

Naturally, as technology developed and travel became something more people could access, the influence of music from Eastern cultures flowed increasingly freely towards the West. The migration of people throughout the following centuries meant that any cultural influence became more seamlessly embedded into the mainstream of Western Culture.

Most European cities, by the time the Baroque Era arrived, had a growing population of migrant workers or slaves. Colonisation had begun to dominate the political and cultural horizons, bringing countless numbers of understandably unwilling people to work in Europe. With them would have come their traditions and their culture.

It is thought that some of the popular dance forms that were popular during the Baroque period may have had their origins in Eastern countries. Of these, the sarabande, the courante and the passacaglia are strong contenders for dances that may have had origins in the East.

Clearly, there is a leaning towards Spain and even further to Latin America for these forms but these may in all likelihood have a longer history that links back to the Silk Road.

A Classical Era Overture to Eastern Sounds

During the Classical Era, there are perhaps more overt cultural influences. Consider the somewhat overplayed Rondo alla Turca (K.331), by WA Mozart.

We know from reliable accounts that this piece was inspired by Mozart having heard Turkish Marching Bands . These were originally military marching bands heralding from the Ottoman Empire. WA Mozart gave the third movement of his eleventh piano sonata this title indicating his intention to acknowledge the cultural inspiration.

Two other works by WA Mozart highlight the Turkish flavour in his music. These are the 1782 Opera titled The Abduction from The Seraglio, often called the Turkish opera and his Fifth Violin Concerto (1775), equally subtitled the Turkish Concerto.

From Turkish Overtures to Arabian Nights

Haydn was not immune from the Eastern music that became quite fashionable across Europe and Russia. Joseph Haydn’s less well-known opera The Unforeseen Encounter (1775), has notable Turkish sonorities in the overture.

In Haydn’s Hundredth Symphony (1794), nicknamed the military, we also hear Turkish music in the second movement as the battle rages. This battle for Vienna which was to take control from the besieging forces from the Ottoman Empire, is thought directly involved Haydn’s great grandparents who survived the siege.

Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote a fabulous orchestral suite he titled Scheherazade (1888). It was highly fashionable at this time to draw on the newly translated tales whose origins were from the Arabic Middle East.

Not only is the story of Scheherezade Arabic, but the music he created shows obvious parallels to Arabian melodies and rhythms. One of the most beautiful moments is when Rimsky-Korsakov uses a solo violin to represent the heroine.

Ravel, Mahler, and the Allure of Eastern Tales in Western Music

By way of illustrating just how influential these stories were, French composer Maurice Ravel made several attempts to place Scheherazade at the centre of his compositions. His first attempt in 1898 was not successful and was not published in his lifetime.

The second attempt was a song cycle, given the same title, inspired by the exoticism of the Arabian Night’s tales. This reached the public domain in 1905 but has little connection to the earlier overture.

Many composers in the 19th Century were inspired by these fantastic tales as well as the music from the East. Take for example Mahler’s The Song of the Earth and Symanowski’s erotically-charged Symphony No.3 (The Song of The Night).

These two monumental works took more from the narratives than perhaps the music from the Eastern Cultures, but they illustrate the power, popularity and the intrigue it possessed.

Debussy’s Gamelan Encounter

Claude Debussy was deeply influenced by Javanese gamelan music when he encountered it at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889 . This exhibition was like no other. There was a credible attempt to recreate the streetlife of Cairo with musicians from that part of the world. The effect on visitors must have been pronounced.

It was for Debussy where he first encountered a Gamelan from Java. You can hear this in so many of his pieces, perhaps with Pagodes towards the tops of the list of fine examples. Debussy assimilated many characteristics of Eastern music including pentatonic scales, whole-tone scales, and harmonic progressions not dependent on triadic construction.

Eastward Inspirations in 20th Century Music

Cultural exchanges deepened over the coming decades. Travel became more affordable and the interest in ethnomusicology became an established academic discipline. French composer Olivier Messiaen was another who was inspired by the music of Japan and India .

Equally experimental composers such as the American John Cage, drank deeply from the well of Chinese culture. Cage used the I Ching to determine many of his compositions with perhaps Music Of Change from 1951 for pianist David Tudor, being one of the finest examples.

Another groundbreaking American composer, Henry Cowell’s orchestral piece Ongaku (1957) is unashamedly Japanese in influence. You may also be interested in listening to Benjamin Britten’s The Prince of The Pagodas and Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, both significantly coloured by the music of the Gamelan.