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Article: An encounter with Chinese music in mid-18th-century London

TitleAn encounter with Chinese music in mid-18th-century London
Authors
Keywords'A Chinese Air'
18th-century Britain
China
Cross-cultural exchange
Loum Kiqua
Issue Date2010
PublisherOxford University Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://em.oxfordjournals.org/
Citation
Early Music, 2010, v. 38 n. 4, p. 543-557+637-638 How to Cite?
AbstractThis article offers an overview of British responses to Chinese music in the 18th century, and discusses in depth an informal musical performance by a Chinese visitor to London, not previously remarked upon in musicological literature. Taking place in 1756, this may have been the earliest Chinese musical performance in the West. The imbalance between the European response to Chinese visual and musical cultures is explored, and an examination of Purcell's The Fairy Queen is used to argue that even in musical contexts it is Chinese visual culture, rather than musical culture, which was most prominent. British responses to Chinese music are distinguished from those of continental Europe, on which they are nevertheless shown largely to depend at least until the period of Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1793. A transcription of one of the pieces of music played by the Chinese visitor (which was published in a contemporary magazine account of the event as 'A Chinese Air') is discussed, and the Chinese performer is identified as 'Loum Kiqua' with the aid of other documentation of the period. A portrait of Loum Kiqua by Dominic Serres - known today only through a print by Thomas Burford - is considered. Broader issues of Chinese-Western cross-cultural musical interchange are raised with reference to the specific example of 'The Chinese Air', and the possibility is also considered that Loum Kiqua met Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith during his stay in London, perhaps even providing one of the inspirations for the latter's The Citizen of the World, a satire on British society presented as written by a Chinese visitor. Amongst Western commentators on Chinese music considered are Gaspar da Cruz, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde, Joseph-Marie Amiot, John Barrow, Johann Christian Hüttner and Charles Burney.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/141071
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 0.6
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.126
ISI Accession Number ID
References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorClarke, Den_HK
dc.date.accessioned2011-09-23T06:24:57Z-
dc.date.available2011-09-23T06:24:57Z-
dc.date.issued2010en_HK
dc.identifier.citationEarly Music, 2010, v. 38 n. 4, p. 543-557+637-638en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0306-1078en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/141071-
dc.description.abstractThis article offers an overview of British responses to Chinese music in the 18th century, and discusses in depth an informal musical performance by a Chinese visitor to London, not previously remarked upon in musicological literature. Taking place in 1756, this may have been the earliest Chinese musical performance in the West. The imbalance between the European response to Chinese visual and musical cultures is explored, and an examination of Purcell's The Fairy Queen is used to argue that even in musical contexts it is Chinese visual culture, rather than musical culture, which was most prominent. British responses to Chinese music are distinguished from those of continental Europe, on which they are nevertheless shown largely to depend at least until the period of Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1793. A transcription of one of the pieces of music played by the Chinese visitor (which was published in a contemporary magazine account of the event as 'A Chinese Air') is discussed, and the Chinese performer is identified as 'Loum Kiqua' with the aid of other documentation of the period. A portrait of Loum Kiqua by Dominic Serres - known today only through a print by Thomas Burford - is considered. Broader issues of Chinese-Western cross-cultural musical interchange are raised with reference to the specific example of 'The Chinese Air', and the possibility is also considered that Loum Kiqua met Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith during his stay in London, perhaps even providing one of the inspirations for the latter's The Citizen of the World, a satire on British society presented as written by a Chinese visitor. Amongst Western commentators on Chinese music considered are Gaspar da Cruz, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde, Joseph-Marie Amiot, John Barrow, Johann Christian Hüttner and Charles Burney.en_HK
dc.languageengen_US
dc.publisherOxford University Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://em.oxfordjournals.org/en_HK
dc.relation.ispartofEarly Musicen_HK
dc.rightsThis is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Early Music following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Early Music, 2010, v. 38 n. 4, p. 543-558 is available online at: http://em.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/4/543-
dc.subject'A Chinese Air'en_HK
dc.subject18th-century Britainen_HK
dc.subjectChinaen_HK
dc.subjectCross-cultural exchangeen_HK
dc.subjectLoum Kiquaen_HK
dc.titleAn encounter with Chinese music in mid-18th-century Londonen_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.emailClarke, D: dclarke@hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityClarke, D=rp01181en_HK
dc.description.naturepostprint-
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/em/caq076en_HK
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-78650154141en_HK
dc.identifier.hkuros195190en_US
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-78650154141&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume38en_HK
dc.identifier.issue4en_HK
dc.identifier.spage543en_HK
dc.identifier.epage557+637en_HK
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000285535900006-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridClarke, D=7403501488en_HK
dc.identifier.citeulike8380101-
dc.identifier.issnl0306-1078-

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