The “Scottish” performances and compositions of Charles Jean-Baptiste Soualle, 1852-1866: Early cultural interactions between Scotland and the saxophone

Charles Jean-Baptiste Soualle (1824-99) was a prolific composer and saxophone soloist, primarily known for his adoption of the pseudonym “Ali-Ben-Sou-Alle” and his solo concert tour of European colonies in Australasia, Asia, and Africa. While these aspects of Soualle’s life and music are covered in existing literature, much of this information draws on inaccurate and exoticized secondary accounts from nineteenth-century France, which over-emphasize his brief visit to the Indian city-state of Mysore. Strikingly, primary sources show that Soualle sustained a more meaningful relationship with Scottish culture, giving Scotland’s earliest documented saxophone performances while touring with the popular composer/conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien (1852), and going on to compose and perform a series of saxophone pieces drawing on Scottish music and literature (1853-66). This dissertation uses archival research to document Soualle’s “Scottish” performances and compositions for the first time, explicating their origins and role in Soualle’s career and concert practice via a discussion which intersects with themes of war, empire, orientalism, and commerce. In doing so, it reframes the prevailing discourse regarding Soualle’s career, demonstrating that his activities must be understood in the context of the British Union and Empire, and describes the first appearances of the saxophone in the majority of the English-speaking world. It concludes that Soualle incorporated the saxophone and aspects of Scottish culture into his skillful exploitation of prevailing cultural trends and moments in the pursuit of his artistic and commercial goals. Ultimately, this dissertation identifies and explicates the initial cultural and historical interactions between Scotland and the saxophone.

Name thesis:degree_name

A.Mus.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Somerville, Andrew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bashford, Christina
• Richtmeyer, Debra
• Silvers, Michael
• Hood, Denice

• Saxophone History
• Ali-ben-sou-alle
• Scottish National Songs
• Orientalism
• British Empire
• Nineteenth Century Scotland

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Andrew Somerville

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120202

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120202