Penelope Appleyard soprano

Jonathan Delbridge square piano

Sense & Musicality

 While away an hour in the drawing room exploring Jane Austen's relationship with music, emotion, and romance, in celebration of the author's 250th anniversary.

Sung by early music specialist Penelope Appleyard and accompanied by Jonathan Delbridge on a Broadwood Square Piano (1814) very similar to Austen's own, listeners are transported to an early 19th century domestic scene. Music includes Jane's favourite pieces, works from the Austen family collection that she played and sang, music by the only composer named in her work, pieces that are thought to have inspired the novels, fashionable music she heard in concert, themes from film & television adaptations, and a new song, Ode to Pity – a rare musical setting of an Austen poem, commissioned specially for this programme.

Delivered imaginatively in period dress with narration, extracts from her works and letters, and an introduction to the square piano, this thoroughly researched programme has something for fans of music, history, and literature!