She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music with Gillian Dooley

Tickets £5-20

This is a live, in-person event.

Location: Christ Church Centre, 6a Morningside Road, EH10 4DD

Take a turn around the room with us, as we welcome music historian Gillian Dooley to Edinburgh to talk about one of our greatest literary heroines, Jane Austen, and the role music played in her life and work.

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.

Our knowledge of Austen's musical inclinations was limited until the recent emergence of a treasure trove of new evidence. Delving into these books, 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 the influences that shaped her literary masterpieces.

About the author

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).