Report by Duncan Williams for Pulman's Weekly News
Jane Austen’s love of music, and the important role it played in her life and writing, will be explored at a special lecture-recital in Crewkerne on 10th September 2026.
Australian scholar, author, singer and pianist Dr Gillian Dooley will visit the South Somerset Music Centre to present Jane Austen Played and Sang, an illustrated talk exploring the music Austen knew, enjoyed and performed.
Drawing on Austen’s surviving music collection, family records and letters, Dr Dooley will trace the place of music in the novelist’s life from her teenage years through to her final years.
The presentation will combine scholarship with live performances of songs and piano works drawn from Austen’s own repertoire. The music will be played on a square piano of a similar vintage to the instrument Austen herself would have known.
Although Austen is celebrated throughout the world for novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility, her e…
