[Sca-cooks] Music at Feasts

[johnna holloway]

In the threads about bagpipes and trumpets and horns, I seem to recall
that someone asked about horns being used to announce courses at feasts.
Was there a source for this?

Last night while checking a bibliography I came across a citation that
indicates that de Messisbugo's Banchetti of 1549 does in fact contain
instructions of what instruments should be played before certain
courses. The citation comes from Une Affair de Gout which is the
catalogue that was produced that describes the Gernon collection of
gastronomy books at Indiana University. It notes that a meat course
should be announced by 3 flutes, 3 cornemuses, and a violin.

There was a reprint of this work:
Banchetti, composizioni di vivande e apparecchio generale.
Cristoforo di Messisbugo;  Fernando Bandini
1960 edition of a 1549 original.

Johnnae llyn Lewis   Johnna Holloway