Rêve d’Égypte

In a context where the French and English occupation and domination of the region was in full flight, musicians, painters and writers alike dreamt of Egypt. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century many European composers had taken part in expeditions of an ethnographic nature, and in their works made allusions to Arabic music, either by grafting authentic material or by adopting motifs perceived or interpreted as oriental. The next generation elaborated on this exoticism drawing on pseudo-antique forms suggestive of ancient Egypt that developed into a type of musical Egyptomania, distinct from Arab exoticism or general Orientalism, yet always adhering to a Europe-centric approach. Another musical illusion of the mythical land, contemporaneous with the construction of Emile Bockstael’s house, can be seen in the work of the Impressionists who continued the esoteric vein linked to ancient Egypt, that of The Magic Flute.