English social novelist Jane Austen wasn’t just an author, but was also a skilled and enthusiastic musician (she could sing and also play the piano). Open Culture points to a digital treasure trove of sheet music that Jane Austen loved.
Like many upper-class women of her day, Jane Austen’s “accomplishments” playing the piano and singing. She collected sheet music and copied music from friends and family members into a series of albums.
Austen apparently loved to have a room to herself where she wrote alone; she copied music by hand into personal albums and collected sheet music.
Watch: Jane Austen’s novels
The Austen family left behind almost 600 pieces of music in manuscript and printed form, and over the years they were acquired, categorized, conserved and eventually digitized by the University of Southampton’s Hartley Library. It’s now available for free at the Internet Archive.
So any particular reason why all this repository of music has been digitized?
Its because 2017 will be the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death. With the help of the digitized music, celebrations of all things Austen will be more lively and authentic.
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