A Jane Austen birthday celebration in song!

 With the 250th birthday of our dear Jane Austen fast approaching this month(December 16, to be precise), choosing the best way to honor such an auspicious occasion was difficult indeed.

However, as I put my mind to the task of selecting just the proper approach for such a literary icon, the answer came as loud and clear as a bell; a musical soirée. After all, Jane was fond of music in her day and that has been reflected in many of her characters for better (Marianne Dashwood) and for worse(poor Mary Bennet!).

So, presented here for your entertainment is a gathering of Austen folk using quite a bit of creative license in the manner of Julia Quinn’s charming Bridgerton series to perform some very rollicking music pieces:

We begin with Miss Anne Eliot, lately of Kellylynch Hall, on the pianoforte to play in honor of a renewed acquaintance that promises to be a more congenial connection as time goes on, Double’s “The Captain of her Heart”:

Next, we have a duet from the newly married Mr and Mrs. Darcy ,who have chosen to recreate the first proposal of marriage between them that did not directly lead to their presently contented union.

As Mr. Darcy’s new father-in-law is wont to say”What do we live , but to make sport for our neighbors and be laughed at them in return?”, in that spirit, this rendition of The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” is performed:

From our visitors from Mansfield Park, here’s another duet with Miss Mary Crawford on harp and Miss Fanny Price in song(accompanied on piano by her cousin Maria) with the assistance of Mr. Edmund Bertram, a rather playful number that might remind one of a sadly cancelled amateur theatre production of Lovers Vows. 

For which young lady to be considered either the Brandy or the Monica of this particular version of “The Boy is Mine”, I allow the audience to discern for themselves:

For our finale, Miss Jane Fairfax is, as her aunt Bates repeatedly assures us, is most happy to delight us on the piano that was just sent to her.

Perhaps the musical gift came from her benefactor Col. Campbell or may perhaps someone else eager to gain her attentions before she went visiting to Highbury, as suggested to Miss Emma Woodhouse the other day.

Regardless, the sender was kind enough to include some Irish melodies with this gift, such as the late Sinead O’Connor’s beautifully composed “Nothing Compares to You”:

As our ensemble takes their bows, we here at LRG do wish the memory of Jane Austen and her brief yet spectacular body of work our very best, with fond hopes of this pleasure being repeated for another two hundred and fifty years or more.

As for our assembly of devoted readers, may we all take a delightful moment of celebration for all of the joy that Miss Austen’s books have given us, perhaps a bid of posh dancing might be in order indeed: