Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 40 minutes ago
To hear the sound Jane Austen would have heard, step back in time as Ros, wearing Regency costume, reading from original 200 year old music, plays an original 1812 Broadwood Elegant Square piano. The skills have not changed - only the player is modern.
When Jane Austen wrote in Emma about Jane Fairfax playing Robin Adair on her mysteriously donated square piano, we think she was writing about not the simple folk song but the more complicated Variations on Robin Adair written by George Kiallmark.
Why? Because a copy of this is in her music collection which has fortunately survived. Jane clearly knew the piece, so why would she not have it in mind when writing? Further, Jane Fairfax was in the novel a very good pianist, so would be more likely to play something a little more challenging than just the simple folk tune.
We have been fortunate to obtain an original example of this from the same print run as that found in the Austen Collection.
Did this very piano belong to Jane Austen? See our post Jane Austen and the Mystery of the Square Piano at:
youtube.com/watch?v=L4DgURtSph4&t=31s
To hear the sound Jane Austen would have heard, step back in time as Ros, wearing Regency costume, reading from original 200 year old music, plays an original 1812 Broadwood Elegant Square piano. The skills have not changed - only the player is modern.
When Jane Austen wrote in Emma about Jane Fairfax playing Robin Adair on her mysteriously donated square piano, we think she was writing about not the simple folk song but the more complicated Variations on Robin Adair written by George Kiallmark.
Why? Because a copy of this is in her music collection which has fortunately survived. Jane clearly knew the piece, so why would she not have it in mind when writing? Further, Jane Fairfax was in the novel a very good pianist, so would be more likely to play something a little more challenging than just the simple folk tune.
We have been fortunate to obtain an original example of this from the same print run as that found in the Austen Collection.
Did this very piano belong to Jane Austen? See our post Jane Austen and the Mystery of the Square Piano at:
youtube.com/watch?v=L4DgURtSph4&t=31s
