Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Jane Austen's world

From the balls at Meryton and Netherfield in Pride and Prejudice to the gift of a piano in Emma, music features strongly in the novels of Jane Austen, who was born 250 years ago.

Amanda Root and Crystal Clarke are our readers in a programme marking 250 years since Jane Austen's birth. Austen's father encouraged her to play the piano, at her home in Chawton she practiced every day before breakfast and the family collection of music books have been digitized by the University of Southampton. Our musical tapestry includes compositions by Händel and Haydn, recently recorded by the pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason for her album Jane Austen's Piano. The scores for numerous TV and film adaptations by composers including Isobel Waller-Bridge and the actor-musician Johnny Flynn breathe new life into Austen's works on screen. And in the novels themselves her characters meet at dances, in Emma the mystery of who has paid for a piano sets tongues wagging while in Sense and Sensibility the sensible Elinor Dashwood has no real interest in music but her rather more romantic sister Marianne loves playing the pianoforte and singing.

Amanda Root played Anne Elliot in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Persuasion and Crystal Clarke played Georgiana Lambe in the 2019- 2023 ITV adaptation/ continuation of Sanditon.

Producer: Kirsty McQuire

READINGS:
An extract from Edward Austen-Leigh’s Memoir of Jane Austen, quoting her niece Caroline
Northanger Abbey
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
An extract from Austen's Sanditon fragment
Mansfield Park
An extract from Heiresses by Miranda Kaufmann
Sanditon by Kate Riordan
Mansfield Park
Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne
Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Persuasion
Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Dec 202518:00
BBC Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Joy and Sorrow

Next

Twelve Days of Christmas

See all episodes from Words and Music

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Joseph Haydn

    Piano Sonata in C Major, Hob XVI:35: I. Allegro con brio

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Jane Austen’s Piano.
    • Sony Classical G010005641311J.
    • Tr1.

  • James Edward Austen-Leigh

    A Memoir of Jane Austen, Recollections from her niece Caroline, read by Amanda Root

  • 00:05

    Anon.

    Que j'aime a voir les hirondelles

    Performer: Amanda Pitt. Performer: John Lofthouse. Performer: David Owen Norris.
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Dutton Epoch CDLX 7271.
    • Tr8.

  • Jane Austen

    Northanger Abbey (1818), read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:09

    Henry Cowell

    Mother Goose Rhymes: Goosey, Goosey Gander

    Performer: Mary Ann Hart. Performer: Robert Osbourne. Performer: Jeanne Golan.
    • Songs of Henry Cowell.
    • Albany Records 034061024026.
    • Tr14.
  • 00:09

    George Kiallmark

    Robin Adair

    Performer: David Owen Norris (piano).
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Dutton Epoch CDLX 7271.
    • Tr6.

  • Jane Austen

    Emma (1816), read by Amanda Root

  • 00:15

    Ann Thicknesse

    Fandango

    Performer: David Owen Norris.
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Dutton Epoch – CDLX 7271.
    • Tr9.

  • Jane Austen

    Sense and Sensibility,(1811), read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:18

    Johnny Flynn

    Queen Bee

    Performer: Johnny Flynn.
    • Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • Mondo Music 1004148334.
    • Tr34.
  • 00:22

    Emmy the Great

    Austenland

    • Austenland Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
    • Madison Gate Records 0-43396-40615-5.
    • Tr6.

  • Jane Austen

    Sense and Sensibility,(1811), read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:23

    Johann Baptist Cramer

    60 Études for Piano: No. 3 in A Minor

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Jane Austen’s Piano.
    • Sony Classical G010005641311J.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:24

    Donna McKevitt

    Ode to Pity

    Performer: Penelope Appleyard. Performer: Jonathan Delbridge.
    • Ode to Pity.
    • VOCES8 Records VCM175.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:27

    George Frideric Handel

    Overture to Rodelinda

    Performer: David Owen Norris.
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Dutton Epoch CDLX 7271.
    • Tr14.
  • 00:30

    Anon.

    Song from Burns

    Performer: Amanda Pitt. Performer: John Lofthouse. Performer: David Owen Norris.
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Dutton Epoch CDLX 7271.
    • Tr11.

  • Jane Austen

    Fragment of a Novel (Sanditon), read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:33

    George Frideric Handel

    Suite in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: IV. Menuet

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Entertaining Miss Austen.
    • Sony Classical G010005641311J.
    • Tr4.

  • Jane Austen

    Mansfield Park, read by Amanda Root

  • Miranda Kaufmann

    Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance, and Slavery in the Caribbean, read by Amanda Root

  • 00:37

    Ruth Barrett

    Lady Denham & Pineapple mischief

    Performer: Ruth Barrett.
    • Jane Austen’s Sanditon (original television soundtrack).
    • NW1 Records 5016959006487.
    • Tr12.

  • Kate Riordan

    Sanditon, based on Andrew Davies TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:41

    Trad.

    Mr. Turner's Waltz (from Emma)

    Music Arranger: William Lyons. Performer: The Chamber Orchestra of London.
    • Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • Mondo Music 1004148334.
    • Tr23.

  • Jane Austen

    Mansfield Park, (1814), read by Amanda Root

  • 00:44

    Richard J S Stevens

    8 Glees Expressly Composed for the Ladies, Op.4: Doubt that the stars

    Performer: The Clerks of Christ Church.
    • Garland of the Elizabethan.
    • New Horizons SOMMCD 047.
    • Tr9.
  • 00:47

    Neville O'Riley Livingston

    Electric Boogie (Dub Mix)

    Performer: Marcia Griffiths.
    • Carousel.
    • Island Records 422-842 334-2.
    • Tr9.

  • Nikki Payne

    Pride and Protest, read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:48

    Brandy & Monica

    The Boy Is Mine

    • The Boy Is Mine.
    • Arista 07822-19011-2.
    • Tr2.
  • 00:49

    Ruth Barrett

    The London Ball

    Performer: Ruth Barrett.
    • Jane Austen’s Sanditon (original television soundtrack).
    • NW1 Records 5016959006487.
    • Tr10.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, (1813), read by Crystal Clarke

  • 00:54

    Dario Marianelli

    Dawn (From ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Soundtrack)

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Jane Austen’s Piano.
    • Sony Classical G010005641311J.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:56

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Jane Fairfax Plays Mozart Sonata in F (from Emma)

    Performer: Amber Anderson.
    • Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • Mondo Music 1004148334.
    • Tr15.
  • 00:57

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Jane Fairfax Plays Mozart Sonata in F (from Emma)

    Performer: Amber Anderson.
    • Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • Mondo Music.
    • 15.

  • Jane Austen

    Emma (1816), read by Amanda Root

  • 01:00

    Giovanni Paisiello

    Nel cor più non mi sento

    Singer: Cecilia Bartoli. Performer: György Fischer.
    • If You Love Me = Se Tu M'ami (18th-century Italian Songs).
    • Decca.
    • Tr9.

  • Jane Austen

    Persuasion (1818), read by Amanda Root

  • 01:03

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Orfeo ed Euridice Wq. 30, Act II, Scene 2 Ballo. Andante: (Dance of the Blessed Spirits)

    Orchestra: South-West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. Conductor: Wilhelm Keitel.
    • The Era of Jane Austen.
    • Menuetto Classics.
    • Tr4.

  • P.D. James

    Death Comes to Pemberley, read by Amanda Root

  • 01:05

    Trad.

    Mr. Knightley And Jane Fairfax Duet (Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes)

    Music Arranger: William Lyons. Performer: Johnny Flynn. Performer: Amber Anderson.
    • Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
    • Mondo Music 1004148334.
    • Tr20.
  • 01:08

    The Doubleclicks

    Oh Mr Darcy

    • Chainmail and Cello.
    • Self-released 885767464308.
    • Tr1.
  • 01:09

    Carl Davis

    Pride and Prejudice main theme

    Performer: Valentina Lisitsa. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Warren‐Green.
    • Love Story: Piano Themes from Cinema's Golden Age.
    • Decca 4789454.
    • Tr15.

Broadcast

  • Sun 7 Dec 202518:00
    BBC Radio 3

Featured in...

The hidden history of plant-based diets

The hidden history of plant-based diets

Forget social media influencers - the meat-free movement started with the Victorians.

Books website

Books website

Get closer to books with in-depth articles, quizzes and our picks from radio & TV.