Jane Austen was known to be a practising musician, and observations about her own musical tastes are found in her letters, and in recollections of her niece Caroline, who described her Aunt Jane’s playing and singing. She is also known to have carefully copied close to 200 manuscripts – the way that music was shared in her lifetime. Musical women appear in various ways in all but one of her novels, contributing to the acute observations of character and the social mores of her time.
On a sunny autumn Saturday afternoon Jane Austen fans (“Janiacs”) gathered at the Melbourne Recital Centre, with several empire-silhouetted and bonneted ladies and the occasional gentleman wearing a cravat seen among the milling throng in the foyer. And in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, the stage was dressed with splendid red velvet curtains, regency chairs and couches, and a magnificent chandelier suspended above the centrally positioned grand piano. As the 3pm start time approached, the appropriately attired musicians entered in small groups, mingling and chatting or warming up with their instruments. We were in a Georgian Salon. Throughout the concert, the musicians acknowledged one another, and appeared to be performing as much for each other as for the audience.
Music director Rachael Beesley and Lizzy Bennet’s Band of strings and winds sat on the chairs and couches, and Aura Go took centre stage at the piano, playing the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K.545. This well-known movement is very typically “classical” and often played by young pianists. In Go’s hands each note sparkled with apparently effortless clarity and evenness of tone, and imperceptibly, by the time its final cadence was heard, the Band was standing and ready to move straight into more Mozart: the March from Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492.
Aura Go read with great presence some well-chosen passages from Jane Austen’s works, illustrating observations of character seen through attitudes to music. In Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, declaring herself an expert (although one who had never taken up an instrument!), insists that Elizabeth Bennet would do better if only she practised more.
It would be safe to suggest that most people in the audience were familiar with the Opening music from Pride and Prejudice composed by Carl Davis for the 1995 BBC series. Its brilliant Regency pastiche with light and entertaining orchestration captures the sweeping countryside and grand houses. Lizzy Bennet’s Band of 16 players, skilfully led by violinist Rachael Beesley, conjured up the scene superbly. It was wonderful to hear the full work, rather than have it fade prematurely into the next episode.
Patrick Doyle’s “My Father’s Favourite” from Sense and Sensibility captured a different way music contributes, with intimacy and interaction of characters at its heart, while Beethoven’s solo piano Bagatelle No.25 “Für Elise” again highlighted Aura Go’s ability to demonstrate an easy elasticity in her charming performance of the work that most young pianists aspire to play, well before they are musically able to do so effectively. Although not published till long after Austen’s death, it is the sort of work that one might imagine played by Elizabeth Bennet “not half so well” as her long-practising and more technically skilled sister Mary, but with greater pleasure for the listener.
Another Patrick Doyle (Sense and Sensibility) orchestral work “Willoughby” introduced a dance-focused collection of works. Things happen at the dance hall that can’t happen in other places! This dance-like work had the standing musicians demonstrating the rhythms with their whole bodies and instruments, and Aura Go again interpolated a short selection of readings and observations about the social aspects of the dance.
There followed a selection of dance works ranging from the Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, to “Grimstock” for flute and strings, and Mrs Huston’s Strathspey, its Gaelic melody beginning with solo violin and flute, and gradually introducing lower strings. Heels were raised high off the ground for the energetic Mrs Rutherford of Egerton, which again had the musicians virtually dancing on stage, followed by Purcell’s Abdelazer Suite of dances, which includes the famous Hornpipe and other movements used in various Austen films.
The program concluded with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 in C K467, sometimes referred to as the Elvira Madigan Concerto, the music continuing to outlive the 1967 film in which it received popular attention. Sublimely Mozart, in Aura Go’s capable hands the range of frequently changing musical characters – delicacy, strength, anguish, power – changed quickly and naturally, like the characters leaping from Jane Austen’s novels. Every note was considered and placed with care. The chamber sized ensemble, grouped around the piano with only celli and bass seated responded in kind, the orchestral voices so clearly audible and beautifully orchestrated by Shauna Beesley to suit the musicians at hand. The thrilling cadenzas were worthy of this great work, and its performance.
A very enthusiastic audience was treated to a reprise of the Carl Davis Pride and Prejudice theme in a fitting conclusion to a very satisfying program. Many stayed for the 20-minute after-concert discussion with Melbourne Recital Centre’s Director of Programming Marshall McGuire, Rachael Beesley and Aura Go, which was interesting, entertaining and informative.
For those interested in further pursuing the connections between Jane Austen and Music, there are some interesting resources available, including Robert Wallace’s Jane Austen and Mozart (1983) and Gillian Dooley’s She played and sang – Jane Austen and Music (2024). Various Jane Austen Societies around the world have articles and podcasts too.
Image supplied.
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Margaret Arnold reviewed Jane Austen’s Music, presented as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Exquisite Classical Experiences Season in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on Saturday May 4, 2024.
