Jane Austen's Musical Life | Gillian Dooley

In her surviving letters, Jane Austen mentions music occasionally among news of friends, neighbours and family. We know that she played the piano and sang, apparently practising regularly when she could. The memories of relations who were still young when she died – especially her niece Caroline – give us an idea of the place of music in her daily life. There is also rich evidence in the surviving music books from the collection of Austen and her family circle, much of which is copied in her own handwriting.

Austen sometimes implies her dislike of public concerts and her appreciation of people who are honest about their lack of musical taste. At other times she expresses genuine enjoyment of a superior performance. Some of these attitudes are also displayed in the novels, but there are subtleties and ambiguities in the way she uses music and musicianship in her writing to…