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Musical delicacies
Music is often described as a "culinary" art, after all, in the past it was used as "table music" and even today it is still popular as background music for all kinds of festivities. But culinary themes and symbols can also be the content of pieces of music, as is demonstrated by numerous works from the Department of Music of the Austrian National Library.
Object 2: Antonio Cesti: „Il pomo d‘oro
Libretto with copper engravings of contemporary stage sets, 1668
The festive opera „Il pomo d‘oro“ („The Golden Apple“) was to be performed on the occasion of the wedding of Emperor Leopold I and Margarita Teresa of Spain in 1666. However, numerous delays meant that it was not until 1668 that the glorious event took place. The contemporary stage sets, designed by Lodovico Burnacini, give a vivid impression of the richly staged opera plot, which exploits all the possibilities of Baroque stage technology and, in keeping with contemporary tradition, makes use of ancient mythology and focuses on the judgement of Paris, who is supposed to present the „golden apple“ to the most beautiful of three goddesses; finally, it is the young empress who is awarded the coveted prize.
