Table music

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This article covers the musical genre. For the orchestra of the same name, see Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra ; for the cycle of works by Georg Philipp Telemann see Tafelmusik (Telemann) .

In the 16th and 17th centuries, background music for celebrations, banquets and similar occasions was referred to as table music . The term was accordingly also used for scores that were written for this purpose. Table music could be instrumental or vocal; for obvious reasons it was often a little easier than music for other occasions.

Among the most famous composers of such works are Johann Hermann Schein , whose Banchetto musicale was written in 1617 and quickly became famous, and Michael Praetorius , who also dealt theoretically with it in his Syntagma musicum in 1619 . Schein's collection is still used today by early music ensembles. Similar titles for music of the same use were Musikalisches Tafelkonfekt, Tafeldienst, Mensa sonora, Encaenia Musices, Mensa Harmonica, Musikalische Tafelbetrieb, Musique pour les soupers du Roi or Musical Banquet .

The best-known example is the table music by Georg Philipp Telemann (1733). It also shows the composer's ability to master a wide variety of genres and instruments. At the same time, this work in a certain way represents the end of the development: in the 18th century this type of music was mostly (not always!) Called divertimento .

A concrete example, which at the same time gives evidence of the genre's creation and centuries-long aftermath, is the famous table music with which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in his opera Don Giovanni, composed in 1787, introduces the final banquet of the title hero and is accompanied by a short excerpt from Figaro's wedding self cited. Mozart's table music - like most divertimentos - is played by an ensemble of woodwinds.

As a counter-reaction to Romanticism , the term everyday music emerged in the 20th century . Composers like Eric Satie (Musique d'ameublement), Paul Hindemith (Plöner Musiktag) and others referred - for different reasons - to the tradition of writing music to accompany extra-musical events. Musique pour le Souper du Roi Ubu by Bernd Alois Zimmermann is also a late reflex .