A Little Night-Food Music

For the unaware, the title is a reference to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Everyone knows the tune. Also for the unaware, "night-food" refers to the food you eat at dinner. So you see, the title is clever and not at all contrived because this post is about music to go along with dinner.


I recently hosted a dinner party and made some Korean food for the occasion. The menu included ddukbokki as an appetizer which I dubbed, "evil rice sticks". They can be a challenge in their spiciness. The main course included oxtail soup. I had fruit and sweet potatoes ready for dessert, though my guests graciously brought more decadent treats.

Picking music for the appetizer was no problem. I chose a bit of Paganini, Tartini's "Devil's Trill Sonata", and Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz". Choosing music to match the soup was a bit more challenging. I thought of Bydlo from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", but that fills less than 4 minutes. I considered adding some Soviet music signifying the proud march of the working ox, but felt that could be a bit heavy. I decided to play the entire suite and put on lighter fare for after-dinner conversation. (It turns out my taste in music leans dark, so my choices may not have been all that light.)

I realized later that I neglected the tune once synonymous with the consumption of hot, bovine flesh. Hoedown from Copland's Rodeo. Predictably, my palm darted towards my forehead at moderate velocity upon that realization.

I did not bother to try coming up with matches for fruit and sweet potatoes, though I suppose I could have. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" would almost be appropriate, except for the unfortunate sentience of that character. Perhaps there is a harvest song I could have played.

What would have gone on your playlist? Am I missing other songs about cows or oxen? Are there any classical tunes about sweet potatoes? Working the other direction, are there songs that you feel make a natural fit for a particular meal? e.g. Schubert's "Trout" quintet. Or maybe Swan Lake if anyone ate swan.