Soundscapes of Wellness: Music in an Early Modern English Recipe Book

Abstract

Thus lamented a lovesick Duke Orsino to his retinue, as unspecified music opened Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. While perhaps not Orsino’s intention, this now-famous metaphor underscores an enduring partnership between music and food.Whether singing broadside ballads at public houses and taverns; entertaining guests at social, diplomatic, and business feasts; or singing daily prayers at family meals, early modern conviviality involved music and food in concert—both could satiate body and soul. One source for early modern bodily care through consumables is the manuscript recipe book, compiling handwritten instructions to make food and medicine. Yet, despite growing attention given to recipe books for their insight into domestic food, as well as medical and scientific practice, their nonrecipe entries, such as jests, magic tricks, and, indeed, music, have largely gone unaddressed.