Sense & Musicality
The love story of Jane Austen and Music
Penelope Appleyard, Jonathan Delbridge
Newbury Spring Festival
Shaw House, Newbury. 13 May 2025

In the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth in Steventon, near Basingstoke, much attention has been paid to her writings and the aspects of her own life that her books reveal. One part of her life that can be overlooked is her love of and interest in music. One example of the quest to explore Jane Austen’s musical interests came with a performance of Sense & Musicality: “The love story of Jane Austen and Music” given by soprano Penelope Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge, playing his own 1814 Broadwood square piano, in the Hall of Shaw House, Newbury, not far from her birthplace.

Continue reading →