Eastman Musicologist Ralph P. Locke Explores 'Exotic' Stereotypes in Music

Why do so many beloved musical works—by Mozart, Puccini, Leonard Bernstein, and other composers—evoke cultures and peoples that are distant and somehow “different”? In his new book, Musical Exoticism: Images and Reflections, Ralph P. Locke, professor of musicology at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, argues that Western attitudes about foreign cultures and stereotypes…