"Turkish Touches
By GEORGE LOOMIS
August 14, 2006
Fascination with the Orient has enriched the musical palette of Western composers to an extent Mozart hardly could have contemplated when he spiced a few of his own compositions with supposed "Turkish"elements. Far from letting Oriental qualities infuse his essential compositional style, as many later composers would do, Mozart applied Turkish touches discretely and, one suspects, humorously. Who can listen to the choruses of janissaries in "The Abduction From the Seraglio," with their augmented intervals and noisy percussion, without cracking a smile?"
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