Exotismo y orientalismo escénico español: Las obras estrenadas en el teatro Apolo de Madrid entre 1900 y 1913

Abstract

With the arrival of the 20th century, new forms and theatrical models made their way into the motley Madrid musical panorama, generating a tendency to break away from the previous system of the genre chico. The fragmentation of the shows, their –generally– poorer literary and musical quality together with the introduction of foreign rhythms and the adoption of themes where sycapsis played a fundamental role were some of their identifying features. However, within this format, the path that found the best acceptance at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid was that of orientalism. Between 1900 and 1913, different works premiered with great success in the coliseum on Calle de Alcalá, betting decisively on this theme. Through the analysis of some of these zarzuelas we can conclude that the resources used were indebted to the image of exoticism that had already been generated decades before and that all these works acted more as a product than as a paradigm reflecting the society of the moment.