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Power and music in Cairo: Azbakiyya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2013

ADAM MESTYAN
ADAM MESTYAN*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, Pusey Lane, Oxford, OX1 2LE, UK
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Abstract

In this article, the origins of the modern metropolis are reconsidered, using the example of Cairo within its Ottoman and global context. I argue that Cairo's Azbakiyya Garden served as a central ground for fashioning a dynastic capital throughout the nineteenth century. This argument sheds new light on the politics of Khedive Ismail, who introduced a new state representation through urban planning and music theatre. The social history of music in Azbakiyya proves that, instead of functioning as an example of colonial division, Cairo encompassed competing conceptions of class, taste and power.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 40 , Special Issue 4: Music and the city , November 2013 , pp. 681 - 704
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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54 Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, 42.

55 Le Ménestrel, 7 Dec. 1862, 7.

56 Audouard, Les mystères de l'Égypte, 199, 297–8.

57 L.S.R. complains in 1868 that (French/European) ‘musique n'existe pas en Égypte’. Le Ménestrel, 24 May 1868, 204–5. Bellefonds remarked that in the cafés ‘actes d'ivrognerie, de débauche, de filouterie’ took place, Mémoires, 599.

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70 Abu-Lughod, ‘Tale of two cities’, 437–8; Fahmy, ‘Modernizing Cairo’, 185. Widening Muski's street, order dated 28 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 1280 (9 Dec. 1863), in Sami, Taqwim al-Nil, pt 3 (vol. II), 512. Although not as significant as the aggressive urbanism from 1868, all in all this early urban policy was certainly more than ‘aucun développement remarquable’, as Arnaud states, Le Caire, 46.

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72 Cf. Sami, Taqwim al-Nil, pt 3 (vol. II), corresponding hijri years.

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74 For instance, the plan submitted in 1868 by ʿAli Mubarak was not implemented. Fahmy, ‘Modernizing Cairo’, 180. Original in Alleaume, ‘Politiques urbaines’, 147–88.

75 Arnaud, Le Caire, 82.

76 Arnaud thought that the mostly French documents in the (former) ʿAhd Ismaʿil (in the following AI) section of DWQ covered all that took place in Cairo in the period and so he did not use Arabic archival sources. Fahmy, ‘Modernizing Cairo’, 179–80.

77 Nubar, Mémoires, 211.

78 Halim Pasha's palace and the munākh of Ahmed Pasha was registered as mīrī-land, dated 3 Shaʿbān 1280 (13 Jan. 1864). Sami, Taqwim al-Nil, pt 3 (vol. II), 534.

79 Arnaud, Le Caire, 46.

80 Perhaps due to Egypt's financial crisis in the summer of 1866 or to the 1865 European crash. Arboit, G., ‘L'arme financière dans les relations internationales: l'affaire Cernuschi sous le Second Empire’, Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 46 (1999), 545–59, here 546CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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82 Cf. Nubar's narrative in his Mémoires, 256–9, as opposed to Sami, Taqwim al-Nil, pt 3 (vol. II), 688 (order dated 8 Shawwāl 1283, giving compensation to Nubar for his house); and DWQ/MM 2002–000253, letter dated 23 Shaʿbān 1285 (9 Dec. 1868).

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88 Bellefonds, Mémoires, 599; cf. Volait, Architectes, 111.

89 According to Fahmy, ʿAli Mubarak and Khedive Ismail agreed to start the transformation of Cairo at Azbakiyya. Fahmy, ‘Modernizing Cairo’, 177. However, in Dec. 1867, Ismail had already demanded to see the plans of the gardens in Paris. Volait, ‘Making Cairo modern’, 25.

90 Volait, Architectes, 111–16.

91 Cf. the story of a new sāqiya 1865/66–1870s for Sarāy al-Azbakiyya, instead of the one which was destroyed by the French, in DWQ/al-Majlis al-Khususi, 0019–000313 and 0019–000316; and DWQ/MM 2002–000253, two letters dated 15 Rajab 1285, and more; cf. Arnaud, Le Caire, 51 (and n. 80), for the plan of Cordier (12 Mar. 1868).

92 Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, 52. Karkegi, ‘Commentaires topographiques’, referring to Le Progrès Egyptien, 17 Oct. 1868, 3, states that the theatre burned down. The khedive paid compensation to the owners of the burned houses, like Shaykh ʿAli al-Qabbani, DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000255.

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96 DWQ/MM 2002–000253, from MM to Ashghal-i ʿUmumiyya, 19 Shaʿbān 1285 (5 Dec. 1868).

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100 For instance, MM repeats that muṣarrifāt al-Tiyātrū wa-l-Janbāz al-Khuyūl laysat min al-tabaʿiyyat li-Muḥāfaẓat (the expenses of the Theatre and the Circus do not belong to the Governorate). DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000256 (p. 95), MM to Umur-i Khassa, 12 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1285 (26 Mar. 1869). Later, it had to be clarified that not even the gardens of the theatres were in the care of the MM. DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000262 (p. 25), 20 Shaʿbān 1286 (25 Nov. 1869).

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103 Levant Herald, 16 Oct. 1868, 2.

104 He had been the chief architect of the khedivial palaces (Bāsh-muhandis ʿimārāt-ı saniyya) since 1863. Volait, Architectes, 67. DWQ/MM 2002–000255 and 2002–000256, several dispatches during 1285 (1868–69).

105 Carl von Diebitsch (1819–69) had drawn a plan of a theatre for the khedive that resembles the final Comédie (Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek, inv. n. 41638). Hector Horeau (1801–72) also had drawn a never-realized plan of an Egyptian theatre in Apr. 1870 (Victoria and Albert Museum, published in Dufournet, P., Hector Horeau précurseur: idées, techniques, architecture (Paris, 1980], 124–5)Google Scholar. I am grateful to R. Bodenstein and M. Volait for calling my attention to these images.

106 Sharubim, al-Kafi, vol. IV, 187.

107 Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, 46.

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109 Volait, Architectes, 106. Franz might work under/with an Egyptian, Muhammad Bey, at the time maʾmūr al-abniyya (‘commissioner in charge with buildings’). Ismaʿil, S.A., Taʾrikh al-Masrah fi Misr fi al-Qarn Tasiʿ ʿAshar (Cairo, 1997; repr. 2005)Google Scholar, 31 n. 2, with reference to al-Waqaʾiʿ al-Misriyya, 8 Apr. 1869. I had no access to this number.

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112 Many European visitors thought the 1869 autumn opening its inauguration (for instance, Blanc, Voyage, 41), yet the Circus was already in use during the spring of 1869, its troupe (Rancy's) already having arrived on 6 February 1869. Levant Herald, 18 Feb. 1869, 4.

113 Leconte, M.-L. Crosnier and Volait, M., L'Égypte d'un architecte: Ambroise Baudry (1838–1906) (Paris, 1998), 63 and n. 53Google Scholar.

114 Levant Herald, 9 Feb. 1869, 3.

115 Levant Herald, 24 Apr. 1870, 10.

116 ʿAbdun, S., ʿAyida wa-Miʾa Shamʿa (Cairo, 1975), 47Google Scholar; Ulacacci, N., Pietro Avoscani: cenni biografici ([Leghorn], 1871)Google Scholar; Balboni, L.A., Gl'Italiani nella Civiltà Egiziana del Secolo XIX, 2 vols. (Alexandria, 1906), vol. I, 294–408Google Scholar; Tagher, J., ‘Pietro Avoscani, artiste-décorateur et homme d'affaires’, Cahiers d'histoire égyptienne, 4 (1949), 306–14Google Scholar; Douin, G., Histoire du règne du Khédive Ismail (Rome, 1934), 470–1Google Scholar; Arnaud, Le Caire, 59–61; Pallini, C., ‘Italian architects and modern Egypt’, in Studies in Architecture, History and Culture: Papers by the 2003–2004 AKPIA@MIT Visiting Fellows (Cambridge, MA, 2006), 39–50Google Scholar; Volait, Architectes, 51, 106. Other names include Julius Franz (Mubarak, A., Al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya, 20 vols. (Cairo, 1886–89; repr. 1980–2007), vol. XVIII, 241Google Scholar); ‘Fasciotti and Rossi’ (Mostyn, T., Egypt's Belle Epoque: Cairo and the Age of the Hedonists (London, 1989; repr. 2006), 72Google Scholar, without any further reference); ‘Avoscani and Rossi’ (Cairo Opera House: www.cairoopera.org/history.aspx, accessed 2 Nov. 2009). Avoscani was certainly the entrepreneur. Draneht Bey accepted his offer to be engaged to ‘direct the construction and the decoration of the Theatre’ (‘engagé à diriger la construction et la décoration du Théâtre’). This letter (dated 21 Apr. 1869) is quoted in a letter, DWQ/AI Carton 80, from ‘Nazir de la Daira Hassa’ to Avoscani, 18 Sep. 1869.

117 ‘M. Frantz-Bey, architecte du khédive, a réduit de 150.000 Francs le mémoire de l'entrepreneur Avoscani, constructeur du Théâtre-Italien du Caire, rien que pour la peinture décorative’. Le Ménestrel, 15 May 1870, 191. Perhaps an ʿAli Rida Bey was also responsible. Ismaʿil, Taʾrikh al-Masrah, 53 (without reference).

118 LeBlanc, L. and LeBlanc, G., Traité d'aménagement des salles de spectacles, 2 vols. (Paris, 1950), vol. II, 4–5Google Scholar.

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121 Abdoun, S. (ed.), Genesi dell' ‘Aida’, con documentazione inedita, Quaderni dell'Istituto di Studi Verdiani 4 (Parma, 1971), 147–51Google Scholar, a text under the title ‘Il Teatro d'Opera del Cairo nota di Saleh Abdoun’, here: 148. Repeated in unknown author, ‘Histoire de l'Opéra du Caire’, Bulletin Annuel de L'Atelier d'Alexandrie, 1 (1972), 53–7, at 54.

122 Contrary to popular belief, neither Aida was ordered (or performed) for this occasion, nor did any visiting celebrity monarchs (Emperor Franz Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy or Empress Eugènie of France) attend the first evening; cf. Ribeyre, F., Voyage de Sa Majesté Imperatrice en Corse et en Orient (Paris, 1870), 124–59Google Scholar. Emperor Franz Joseph only visited the Opera on his way back to Europe.

123 Letter of Avoscani, quoted in an essay of Abdoun (ʿAbdun) which is annexed to Abdoun, Genesi dell' ‘Aida’, under the title ‘Il Teatro d'Opera del Cairo’ nota di Saleh Abdoun, here: 148.

124 Volait, Architectes, 106.

125 Ismaʿil, Taʾrikh al-Masrah, 31 n. 2.

126 Compiled from various letters in DWQ/AI Carton 80 and the international press of 1869–75.

127 Letter of Draneht Bey to Verdi, in Weaver, W., Verdi: A Documentary Study ([London], 1977), 225Google Scholar.

128 Basha, A. Shafiq, Mudhakkirati fi Nisf Qarn, 3 parts in 4 vols. (Cairo, 1934), pt 1, 57–8Google Scholar.

129 Cf. Russian Grand Duke Nicholas, L'Orient illustré, 16 Dec. 1872, 279, and Levant Herald, 5 Dec. 1872, 226–7; grand duke of Oldenburg, L'Orient illustré, 23 Nov. 1870, 227; Prince Arthur of Britain, Levant Herald, 3 Feb. 1875, 37; or the uncle of the Persian shah, Butler, A., Court life in Egypt (London, 1887), 291–2Google Scholar.

130 For instance, al-Mahrusa, 13 Feb. 1885, 4; Le Bosphore Égyptien, 3 Feb. 1885, 3.

131 Al-Waqaʾiʿ al-Misriyya, 10 Jun. 1869, 1; Al-Jawaʾib, 2 Dec. 1869, 2.

132 For instance, M. Unsi, ‘Malʿab al-Ubira bi-Misr al-Qahira’, Wadi al-Nil, 28 Feb. 1870 (1869 is wrongly printed on the title-page), 1332–4, or Wadi al-Nil, 4 Mar. 1870 (1869 is wrongly printed on the title-page), 1348–52.

133 Abou-Hodeib, T., ‘Taste and class in late Ottoman Beirut’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 34 (2011), 475–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

134 Fahmy, Ordinary Egyptians, 40–3.

135 Unsi allied with Louis Farrugia. DWQ/AI Carton 80, from Draneht to Khairi, 20 Apr. 1872. To his letter he attached the (French) project of the Arab theatre, dated 15 Mar. 1872, which was published first by Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, Appendix 3, 186–96; cf. his analysis at 105–6.

136 Six Egyptian guards (farrāsh) guarded the Opera and the Comédie in 1878. DWQ/Diwan al-Ashghal al-ʿUmumiyya 4003–037847, from Léopold Larose to unknown, 30 Dec. 1878.

137 Information in this paragraph is based on my dissertation: A. Mestyan, ‘“A garden with mellow fruits of refinement”: music theatres and politics in Cairo and Istanbul, 1867–1892’, CEU Ph.D. thesis, 2011.

138 Fahmy, Ordinary Egyptians, 115–17, 128.

139 Zádori, J., Éjszakafrikai útivázlatok: I. Egyiptom (Budapest, 1874), 95Google Scholar.

140 Cachia, P., Popular Narrative Ballads of Modern Egypt (Oxford, 1989), 103–19Google Scholar.

141 Al-Khulaʿi, Al-Musiqa al-Sharqi, 172 n. 1.

142 Shawqi, A., ‘Fi dar al-Ubira’, in his Al-Aʿmal al-Shiʿriyya al-Kamila, 2 vols. (Beirut, 1988), vol. II, pt 4, 52–4Google Scholar.

143 Anon., ‘Dawr al-ghinaʾ wa-l-raqs’, al-Fath, 8 Dhu'l-Qaʿda 1355 (20 Jan. 1937), 15.