The life and musical world of Jane Austen will be celebrated in a special lunchtime event at Our Lady of Victory church, Valletta, on Tuesday, March 17 at 12.30pm.
Marking 250 years since the birth of one of literature’s most beloved novelists, Notes from the Drawing Room: Celebrating Jane Austen offers audiences a rare opportunity to explore the sounds that shaped the English writer’s world and imagination.
Although best known for her six major novels, Austen was also an accomplished amateur pianist, and music formed an essential part of her social and domestic life, this reflecting her ideas in her fictional novels.
References to performance, practice and musical taste appear frequently in her writing, reflecting the cultural importance of music in late 18th- and early 19th-century England. The curated programme brings to life composers and pieces known to have been admired, performed or mentioned within her circle.
Among them is George Frideric Handel, whose Water Music Austen herself mentions, revealing her familiarity with one of the era’s most celebrated works. The elegance and dramatic clarity of Christoph Willibald Gluck, the refined pianistic style of Johann Baptist Cramer, and the graceful charm of Ignaz Pleyel reflect the musical tastes cultivated in the drawing rooms of those times.
The programme also acknowledges the brilliance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose music was widely admired in England.
Pianist Ramona Zammit Formosa will bring this repertoire to life, while narrator Miriam Agius will interweave carefully chosen literary excerpts that reveal how music shapes character, atmosphere and emotion within Austen’s novels.
Entrance to the concert is at a suggested donation of 1 €13. One can obtain tickets prior to the concert from the venue itself or by e-mailing baroccobookings@gmail.com/ baroccomalta@gmail.com or calling on 7968 0952.
