She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music

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Like her much-loved heroine Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen 'played and sang'. Music occupied a central role in her life, and she made brilliant use of it in her books to illuminate characters' personalities and highlight the contrasts between them.

Until recently, our knowledge of Austen's musical inclinations was limited to the recollections of relatives who were still in their youth when she passed away. But with the digitisation of music books from her immediate family circle, a treasure trove of evidence has emerged. Delving into these books, alongside letters and other familial records, She played and sang unveils a previously unknown facet of Austen's world.

This insightful work not only uncovers the music closely associated with Austen, but also unravels her musical connections with family and friends, revealing the intricate ties between her fiction and the melodies she performed. With these revelations, Austen's musical legacy comes to life, granting us a deeper understanding of her artistic prowess and the influences that shaped her literary masterpieces.

Reviews

CHOICE OUTSTANDING TITLE 2024

'Dooley sings out with important information about the musical tastes and activities of Jane Austen. Youll be glad you tuned in to her harmonious and engaging book!'
Janine Barchas, author of The Lost Books of Jane Austen

In this fascinating and knowledgeable study Gillian Dooley invites us to hear again the audible traces of a forgotten musical repertoire that played through Jane Austens life and writings.
Kathryn Sutherland, editor of Jane Austens Fiction Manuscripts

'A beautifully detailed account of the importance of music, and especially of song, to Jane Austen.'
John Mullan, author of What Matters in Jane Austen

'Gillian Dooley brings deep knowledge and appreciation of both musical and literary composition to establish their connection in Austen's writing. She played and sang is a lucid, detailed and fascinating addition that brings new insights to this important aspect of Austen studies.'
Sandie Byrne, author of Jane Austen's Possessions and Dispossessions

'An illuminating book on the power of music as a social and rhetorical force in Austens life and fiction. Gillian Dooley, drawing on a recently unearthed collection of 500 pieces of Austen family sheet music, has produced an original, informative must-read.'
Devoney Looser, author of Sister Novelists

'Its an interesting read, but, more importantly, it fills a gap in our knowledge of the music Austen loved, copied, and sang. Dooley brought to mind how important reading out loud was to Austen and the people of her time, and how important music was in an era when family and local and musicians provided wonderful entertainments for their families and communities.'
Jane Austen's World

'Gillian Dooley has done the burgeoning world of Austen studies a service by cataloguing the manuscripts that survive in Austens hand'
Nicholas Kenyon, BBC Music Magazine

'Meticulously researched, detailed and original, Gillian Dooley's exhaustive account of the role of music in the life of Jane Austen, her family and her fictional creations is a remarkable achievement.'
Jocelyn Bury, Jane Austen's Regency World Magazine

'Engagingly written, She played and sang provides a detailed and thoughtful picture of a song repertoire associated with Jane Austen and heard in the British domestic sphere during her era. Dooley's book provides the most extensive overview of Austen's music collection available., unearthing fascinating new relationships between the author's thinking and the music of her time.'
Marian Wilson Kimber, Journal of the American Musicological Society

'This informative and readable book is sure to interest scholars and general readers of Jane Austens writing, as well as those who would like greater insight into the kind of music played and enjoyed in the domestic setting in early nineteenth-century England.'
Frances Wilson, Interlude.hk

'The book is accessible to any reader of Austen whose enthusiasm for her work is stimulated by an increased understanding of the world she inhabited, in this case the importance of music, both vocal and instrumental, in her world and her life.'
Good Reading Magazine

'Dooleys account of Austen and music, though comprehensive, is unburdened by technical or pedagogical terminology.'
Elsa Solender, Jane Austen Society of North America

'As a devotee of Jane Austen, Dooleys She Played and Sang was a delight to read. This text is extensively researched and shows the authors considerable knowledge of traditional and contemporary Jane Austen scholarship. She Played and Sang is a quick and absorbing read for any Jane Austen fan.
--E. P. Muntis, Lebanon Correctional Institution
Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, advanced undergraduates through faculty, and professionals.'
CHOICE November 2024 Vol. 62 No. 3

Author Bio

Gillian Dooley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in English at Flinders University. She has published and presented internationally on Jane Austen, and as a singer she has curated programmes of music from Austen's personal collection since 2007. She has appeared on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's The Book Show and The Minefield as an expert on Austen. Her most recent books are Matthew Flinders: The Man behind the Map and Listening to Iris Murdoch: Music, Sounds, and Silences (both 2022).