In the play "Twelfth Night," Shakespeare wrote: "If music be the food of love, play on." In reality, food can inspire composers. Tomoko appreciated good food herself, and likely played to fuel her own soul Here is a sampling for you to taste.
Probably the most famous food-related piece -- and comic opera -- is Bach's Coffee Cantata. Bach himself liked coffee, and it is told that this piece was performed in a coffee house. The underlying story tells of a young woman's obsession with coffee, which her father wants to curb.
Prokofiev's opera (which has been arranged for piano) Love for Three Oranges tells a fanciful tale of a prince cursed by a witch to search for three oranges, and finds love on the way.
Another performance piece, in this case a ballet, that food inspired is Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, especially "The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies." The then new piano-like instrument the celeste, with its high-pitched glittery tone, evoked the crystalline texture of sugar plums.
Schubert was inspired by the unlikely food-related song "The Trout", which used the metaphor of fishing as a girl "hooked" a mate. He transformed the piece into The Trout Quartet, which is performed by a piano and four stringed instruments. The work is rather melancholy, as was Schubert at the time.
Want to play a piano duet about food? Taste-test Satie's piano suite Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear (which actually includes ten morsels). It's a very playful set of miniatures with a surprising variety of moods. Get you get the joke about pears and (piano) pairs?
The (food) take-away? Food-inspired music can be a buffet of delight to feed the soul.
