Music and Food

Coffee houses, taverns and banquets make music a social seasoning and put food and drink into song.

Related

BaroqueCantataHarpsichord

Question

Does a meal need music? At a banquet the music must be heard without drowning out conversation; in a tavern the song wants everyone to join. What is music actually doing at the table?

Historical background

Medieval feasts had minstrels, and Renaissance courts used interludes to separate courses. Baroque coffee houses became public music rooms, and Bach's Coffee Cantata took coffee addiction as its subject. Nineteenth-century restaurant bands and salon piano turned dining into a display of status, while radio and background music standardized the sound of the table in the twentieth century.

Key cases

BWV 211 stages a father-daughter quarrel over coffee. The Irish drinking song Preab san ol turns a solo into a chorus through its refrain and the act of raising a glass. Lamb's Champagne Rag writes bubbles in syncopation and staccato. The three concern drink, alcohol, and luxury.

What to listen for

Hear whether the music leaves gaps for talk, whether the refrain invites singing, and whether the rhythm imitates pouring, clinking, or bubbles.

Related

Table music sits between the Cantata and the song; the coffee houses of Baroque gave it a public room, and the Harpsichord was a regular at the salon table.

Sources

• Grove Music Online 的 Bach, Johann Sebastian 与 Drinking song 条目，用于核对饮食歌曲的场合与体裁
• 詹姆斯·盖恩斯，《Evening in the Palace of Reason》中关于巴赫与莱比锡咖啡文化的章节，用于核对《咖啡康塔塔》的背景

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