English soprano Penelope Appleyard is bringing out the music of Jane Austen’s time, but in a new way. Discovering that her neighbour, pianist Jonathan Delbridge, had a 1814 Broadwood square piano, she began to investigate the music that had been written for that essential instrument of the early 19th-century home. As a singer, she had a particular interest in music-making at home. The two performers formed a group, The Little Song Party, to perform this genre of home music.
Robin Adair
The Little Song Party, Penelope Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge
This led her to music in Jane Austen, where it is a part of many of her novels, as well as an early poem, ‘Ode to Pity’. This piece of juvenilia, written when Jane was only 17, is dedicated to ‘Miss Austen’, presumably her sister Cassandra. As there they had not been able to find any settings of this poem, Appleyard commissioned Donna McKevitt to write a work that would do justice to the poem and the time it was written.
Cassandra Austen: Jane Austen ca. 1810 (London: National Portrait Gallery)
We spoke with Ms. Appleyard recently and talked about her new recordings and the music of Jane’s time. Jane Austen played the piano from a young age and sang as well, and these skills come out in her novels. We remember poor Mary in Pride and Prejudice, who is so desperate to play the piano for public gatherings, but whose sense of music doesn’t match the sensibilities of her audience, who are desperate for her to stop. Although we are familiar with the folk song setting of Beethoven and Schubert, these works weren’t necessarily the home music of the Austen family.
The square piano currently in the Austen house is a Clementi piano from 1813. It is thought that Jane’s piano was a bit younger than this.
John Broadwood and Sons Square Piano, 1814 (Eric Feller collection)
This is a piano that would have been as much a piece of furniture as a musical instrument. Closed, it looks like a 6-legged table with a very deep top. Open, it becomes a piano, with the string set at an oblique angle to the keyboard. Its sound is warm and inviting, if a bit thin. It wasn’t until the development of the metal framing for the piano and thicker strings that the rich and full piano sound we’re familiar with came into being.
Singing with a square piano means that you’re singing with a piano designed for interior, home spaces, not concert halls. If you have a voice for singing, the square piano is an ideal match, and this comes across beautifully in Ms. Appleyard’s performances.
She has recorded two early 19th-century songs and her new Jane Austen in preparation for her upcoming performances of the Sense and Musicality recital. This will include songs from the many volumes of Austen family music albums, 9 of which are held by the Jane Austen House Museum, works that were part of the many recent films of Jane’s novels, and music that Jane referred to in her novels. This valuable website gives access to all those that are available online, including ones in Jane’s own hand.
In addition to the release of ‘Their Groves of Sweet Myrtle’, two further songs are scheduled for release: ‘Robin Adair’ on 29 August and the ‘Ode to Pity’ on 19 September, following its premiere at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath.
Penelope Appleyard & Jonathan Delbridge – Robin Adair
Penelope Appleyard brings a beautifully clear soprano to music that, on the surface, is quite simple, but which carries deep nuances of commentary on contemporary society. The music is well-served by the performers and will prompt you to reconsider what might have been a casual dismissal of music for the home in the early 19th century. Whether you’re a follower of Jane’s novels, the movies of her novels, or the society in which she moved, The Little Song Party bring Jane’s musical world to life.
The Little Song Party’s upcoming performance schedule is:
6 Sept 2025 St Bartholomew’s Church, Yeovilton
15 September 2025 Jane Austen Festival, Bath Abbey – Ode to Pity Launch
26 September 2025 Leamington Music
1 November 2025 Holbourne Museum, Bath
26 November 2025 Weymouth Concerts
25 January 2026 Jane Austen’s House, Chawton
8 February 2026 Calstock Arts
11 April 2026 Richmondshire Concerts
2 May 2026 Sherborne Abbey Festival
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