Jane Austen and the Music of Her World

The Practitioners of Musick perform a program of music directly associated with Jane Austen and her family in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth on Dec. 16, 1775.

Like many ladies of her time, Jane Austen was an accomplished musician with a lifelong love of music. She played both the spinet harpsichord and the pianoforte, and musical scenes appear frequently in her novels. Portions of "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion" are set in fashionable Georgian Bath—a city of elegant terraces, lively theatres, concerts, and grand assembly rooms where music, tea, and social dancing flourished.

Much of the Austen family’s sheet music collection still survives today, revealing her wide-ranging tastes, everything from chamber music to English ballad operas, and offering us a charming glimpse into the soundscape that inspired her writing.

The Practitioners of Musick ensemble, founded to explore the musical treasures of 17th- and 18th-century Great Britain and Ireland, as well as the Colonial and early Federal periods in America, will present a special program celebrating the music of Jane Austen’s era.

You may also like the following events from Princeton Public Library:

• Next Tuesday, 2nd December, 06:00 pm, Friends & Foundation Around Town: Jessica Pearce Rotondi in Conversation with Yoojin Grace Wuertz in Princeton
• Next Friday, 5th December, 10:30 am, Friends of Princeton Open Space Nature Book Club in Princeton

Also check out other Music events in Princeton, Entertainment events in Princeton, Concerts in Princeton.