Tafelmusik

(Ger., table music; Fr. musique de table). Musical entertainment for banquets and similar festive occasions. Respectable composers contributed to the genre, e.g., Georg Philipp Telemann with his instrumental SUITES.

The French composer MICHELE-RICHARD DELALANDE published in 1703 a collection of "symphonies qui se jouent ordinairement au souper du Roy" (symphonies that are ordinarily played at the King's supper). While this sort of music was disdained in the 19th century, hedonistic composers of the 20th revived it gleefully. In its more extreme manifestations it serves as background to other activities, in the form of live musicians, recordings, or MUZAK.

There is a witty spoof on Tafelmusik in the finale of the second act of WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART'S opera DON GIOVANNI, where a band plays selections from various operas, including one of Mozart's own.