The nineteenth century saw changes from the Industrial Revolution that introduced the middle class to society. The Industrial revolution also saw changes in the musical landscape, altering the Romantic period for the better. Up until the Industrial Revolution, musicians and artisans were either employed solely by the church or through private aristocratic families as a patronage. One of the main characteristics of the Romantic period was to acknowledge the importance of emotion in music as well as art. Jane Austen novels’ Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion highlights this key idea. Both novels also showcase the new primary place for music in the nineteenth century, the parlor. Historically women in the nineteenth century were more common to play music for entertaining guests and to boast their social rank but for others, musical achievements were viewed as a trade mark for obtaining a husband. Let us look at how the role of music was carried out in the nineteenth century as well as in Jane Austen’s novels.
Before we start looking at music within the nineteenth century, I would like to quickly address the time frames when talking about music history. Music historians divide music periods of one hundred and fifty years with a small transition period of two years before going into the next time frame. In other words, if the classical period ends at 1830, we get a small transition into the Romantic period at 1828 with early works by Beethoven. In Austen’s novel Persuasion, we see the title character Anne Elliot embody the Romantic musical movement. Within this period, there is also more emphasis on enjoying music for oneself “separate music from the sound” (Rosen 1) which included a strong basis for musical education in children. Jane Austen, herself was a diligent piano player and she continued her studies until her death. Whether or not Austen preferred to play for herself, she did include appreciation for playing for ones’ self in both Anne Elliot and Marianne Dashwood. Anne has had a strong passion for music since learning to play for her mother as a child, but now after her mother’s death she knows that she continues to play “giving pleasure to herself” (Austen 46). We also know from early on in the novel that Anne prefers playing for her own enjoyment because she can have more of an intimate relationship between music and herself and in turn also means that music is something that cannot be taken away from her. While attending a concert with her sister Elizabeth and Lady Dalrymple, we see Anne truly happy “her happiness was from within. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks glowed” (Austen 183). However, Anne sometimes loses her emotional connection with the music “while her fingers were mechanically at work, proceeding for half an hour, equally without error, and without consciousness” (Austen 71) whenever she gets worried when she encounters Wentworth, we see the slight lack of connection. It is only made aware to the reader that Anne has moments of almost self-doubt. When Anne is fully immersed in the music she is very happy and excited “feelings for the tender, spirits for the gay, and patience for the wearisome” (Austen 184). During a concert, Anne translates a song to Mr. Elliot showing to the reader once again that she values music for herself. Though it is limited, Anne’s musical skills are higher because she can translate the emotions that she feels from the music and is able to describe what is going on an intimate level “nearly the sense, or rather the meaning of the words, for certainly the sense of Italian love-song must not be talked of, but it is as nearly the meaning as I can give” (Austen 184). We see Anne’s self-confidence appear more as well, when she talks about music.
In one of Austen’s earlier novels Sense and Sensibility, only Marianne seems to be the sole musical person in the Dashwood family and often refers to Elinor as her unmusical sister. While Anne Elliot is more mature when she plays the piano, Marianne on the other hand is overdramatic “her sorrows, her joys could have no moderation” (Austen 6). Throughout the novel we see that Marianne plays for herself because of her sessions with the piano where we can see that she pours out her heart through music. Marianne also informs the reader that she will not marry someone who does not share her passions including her musical accomplishments “the same books, the same music must charm us both” (Austen 17). As Marianne and Willoughby spend more time together, she asks him about his tastes in music “they speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual” (Austen 47), but as we find out later in the novel Willoughby was not the man she had wanted him to be which causes her to go into a downward spiral. This emotional upheaval is similar in Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise in which the character has also been neglected by his loved one. In Jim Samson’s Music and Society article, he states “the musical work could map our real existence in time on to an ideal, symbolic plane, which moreover enabled precisely that resolution and closure unavailable during our real existence” (Samson 47) which Marianne shows us while she mourns the loss of her first love. After Marianne is publicly dismissed by Willoughby, she plays for many hours “at the piano-forte alternately singing and crying” (Austen 83). This is another prime example of the romantic movement and here is where Marianne’s sensibility is a good thing. Marianne, like Anne, uses music to grieve and she continues to pursue playing but plays to help heal her broken heart. From great loss, does generate very powerful music for example, Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in D and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor. Elinor makes the remark to Lady Middleton that “Marianne can never keep long from that instrument you know” (Austen 140) and it just supports Marianne’s appreciation for music. Even if she is not completely alone, Marianne still plays for herself enjoyment “wrapt up in her own music and her own thoughts, had this time forgotten that anybody was in the room besides herself” (Austen 141).
In society, music was seen by a majority of families as a way of increasing their daughters’ chances of marrying into a better social rank and the two most common household instruments of the time were the piano and the harp. In home performances, the piano could be played as either a solo instrument or to accompany other singers or instruments. From the higher demand of musical instruments, the piano became smaller to fit into the home. These pianos first started as a small square such as the one in the Jane Austen House Museum and later became upright pianos. The internal structure of the piano was changed from wood to iron frames so that the piano could withhold the pressure from the valves. This demand for more instruments was caused by the idea of parlor music. Parlor music became another performance venue for middle class families in addition to new public concerts created by Beethoven. In either setting, the music that was played included the popular songs and reduced transcriptions of symphonic melodies and operatic scores. The most famous parlor composers are Chopin and Foster who introduced folk music to society. Early on in Persuasion, Anne takes the “office of musician” (Austen 47) at one of the Musgrove’s parties where she plays country tunes to reflect the new idea of parlor music.
Society dictated through the concept of separate spheres that women must have a basic music education and that would better chances of getting a good husband. One way of appealing potential suitors was to attend concerts. Another result of the industrial revolution came a new public interest to see music live since musicians had more liberties to premiere new music. Composers starting with Beethoven used the demand of musicians to increase the sizes of the orchestra and created more elaborate pieces. Throughout the romantic period composers like Richard Wagner kept pushing the limits to see what could be achieved with the larger sound mass. In Persuasion, Lady Dalrymple takes Anne and Elizabeth along to a concert to show their status “draw many eyes, excite as many whispers, and disturb as many people as they could” (Austen 183). With the introduction of the middle class and more public performances, music was no longer considered to be solely an elite activity so in order for the upper classes to maintain their hold over the middle class they frequented concert halls “attending concerts was a means of displaying status” (Scott 563). We also could have seen the Dashwood sisters attend a concert in London if Willoughby did not reject Marianne in front of the London society.
Shakespeare wrote “if music be the food of love sing on” and that was what mothers especially did for their daughters. In the parlor room, the instruments should be placed in a certain way in order to be showcased when the men would arrive. Mrs. Musgrove is very particular when she arranged the instruments in the parlor “confusion by a grand piano forte and a harp” (Austen 39) and we can assume that the harp is the main focus of the parlor. The harp and lessons were given to very privileged daughters because it was more complicated than the piano. The piano was a functional instrumental but to really show off your musical abilities, you must learn the harp. Only a few characters throughout Austen’s novel are known to have taken lessons on the harp including Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove. Louisa even chose to walk to the Croft home because if she had ridden in the carriage then she could not have fitted the harp to bring with her. Louisa also had to have the harp with her because when they spoke of their deceased brother Richard her mother needed to be entertained “harp, for it seems to amuse her more than the piano forte” (Austen 49). The older generation of characters did achieve their ideal husbands through music but instead of progressing their skill, they simply gave it up all together. Lady Middleton once she was happily secured in her marriage said “giving up music, although by her mother’s account she had played extremely well and by her own was very fond of it” (Austen 35) and Mrs. Elton from Emma knew of so many women as well who stopped caring about music once they had a set future. Anne Elliot’s sister Elizabeth viewed musical skills as “origin of selfish vanity” (Austen 183) because her need to find a suitor is a more urgent matter than learning to also have an appreciation for music.
In Conclusion, the role of music was torn between society expectations and self-enjoyment. The idea of Romanticism was to value the natural world, idealize the importance of the working man but most importantly to know the importance of emotions within the art form. In both novels, the heroines show the reader that they prefer music for their own self enjoyment. Anne Elliot takes in music with not only her heart but with her entire being. Austen provides us with a myriad of musical moments that allow Anne to be fully connected to the music. Even though she does play for the Musgrove parlor parties, her true nature comes across when she plays alone. In Marianne, we see a great passion that might rival Anne’s “great playing” because of her emotional connection to the piano throughout the novel. Marianne emotes more after the rejection on the piano and we see her express feelings on a very deep and intimate level. In the end, both heroines marry their true soul mates and they did not win them by wooing them solely on a vanity level, but it was through their artistry that not only captures our emotions but also the hearts of their husbands who equally share their passion.
References:
Austen, Jane. Persuasion. London: Penguin Group, 2012. Print.
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: Penguin Group, 2012. Print.
Kerber, Linda K. “Separate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman’s Place: The Rhetoric of Women’s History.” The Journal of American History, vol. 75, no. 1, 1988, pp. 9–39. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1889653.
Rosen. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U, 1995. Print.
Samson, Jim, ed. The Cambridge History of Nineteenth Century Music. Cambridge: Cambridge U, 2002. Print.
Samson, Jim. Man & Music. from the Mid-19th Century to World War I. London: Macmillan, 1991. Print.
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