Category: music
-
Messiah – A Regency Tradition?
I was busy thinking about what to write about this month. I have a book coming out early in 2026, starring our beloved Colonel Fitzwilliam, and I considered that. I’m also finally finishing Miss Mary and Alexander Lyons’ next mystery, set in the world of Persuasion, and that was an option too. Then, on one…
-
The Very English Soundtrack of Jane Austen’s World
My 10-year-old had a tin whistle unit in school, and she liked it, so now she is asking me for more music. I have printed a few hymns and (what is all the rage in her homeschool group) the hobbit theme from Lord of the Rings. As soundtracks to my day go, it is really…
-
Where Would One Find Sheet Music in the Regency Era?
Although quite expensive, sheet music was readily available during the Regency era. Many a person subscribed to services offered by music publishers, among the Schirmer, the most well known of the time. Sheet music was produced for subscribers in bound volumes. This volumes would contain a selection of songs, including popular ones of the times,…
-
Some Music in the Parlour: Regency Keyboard Instruments
I’ve been thinking a bit about pianos of late. I am in the final stages of editing a non-JAFF Regency Romance that is coming out in mid-May. In this story, my heroine is exceptionally skilled at the pianoforte, which is what first draws the hero to her. This, of course, led to a bit of…
-
“What nobody ever told me” OR “Tell her to give me a ring”
I’d been married to an Englishman for maybe five years when I first toured the US with a British symphony orchestra. Which felt a bit backwards. While I was touring, my husband called most days, and on one occasion he needed my advice urgently (the fridge-freezer? Can’t remember.) At any rate, he requested the hotel…
-
A Moral Dilemma …
Embarrassing recollection #10002 (and counting)… When I was young I played principal cello in my High School Orchestra. (No big deal, I know, but I was also principal cello in the Virginia All-State orchestra and the famous D.C. Youth Orchestra, so I must’ve played cello OK.) Now it just so happened that most of the…
-
Fresh Thoughts on the 2024 AGM
It is ever so difficult to characterize an annual general meeting (AGM) of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). There are so many different elements—local tours, specialty events, sometimes a major evening event, the plenary speeches open to all attendees. Multiple breakout sessions go simultaneously for two days so that no one person…
-
May Is a Big Month for the McVeighs!!
First, we shall see our daughter Rachel, who is a Presidential Scholar (Ph.D-level) at Harvard. Once term is over at Harvard, she’ll be home!! Second, my husband’s Music in Edwardian London (designed to please my fellow music lovers, my husband’s new book about music in London 1890 to 1914) is released. On the same day,…
-
What’s on the Program?
As I look ahead in my calendar, I’m delighted to see how full it is with concerts, plays, and performances of all descriptions. We have tickets to a couple of symphony concerts, a performance of Verdi’s Requiem, an opera, and in a couple of weeks, a world premiere of a dance version of Hamlet, staged…
-
Jane Austen and the Anti-Hero
Last week was ridiculously busy for all sorts of reasons. First, it was Valentine’s Day, the focus of the fund-raising anthology five other fabulous JAFF authors and I put together for the benefit of the Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, UK. We were overwhelmed by the amazing response this collection of stories received and…