Women and Musical Education in the Regency Era | Kathryn Libin

Jane Austen and other women who enjoyed music, and who aspired to even a modest

level of musical accomplishment, needed some training. What kind of musical education

could women in the Regency era expect to receive? What does it indicate that Marianne

Dashwood plays concertos, why is Mary Bennet interested in thoroughbass, and how

would Jane Fairfax have encountered the compositions of J.B. Cramer? Contemporary

manuals on female education offer a glimpse into what was then considered appropriate