In connection with her research into music in 19th-century English literature, Virginia
Rushton lectures on music in the lives and works of the Brontë family:
The Brontës grew up at a time when music was a consuming passion of English
middle-class families. Thanks to their social position and the lively musical scene in West
Yorkshire during the 1830's and 1840's, they were able to enjoy a range of musical
experiences at home, with their friends, and at public concerts.
The way the Brontës used music in their works - the Juvenilia and their published
novels and poetry - stems from their own musical knowledge and experience. As well as
setting the family in a cultural context in Haworth and the region, this lecture-recital
demonstrates the operation of music on the minds and feelings of both the fictional
characters and of the attentive reader.
Musical examples are taken from Anne Brontë's Song Book and from the volumes of
printed music in the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth; readings include passages
from Shirley, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and from Emily's poetry.
"The performance was wonderful." - Brontë Society Gazette, November 1994
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