Hello again, dear readers! This year, we’ve begun a blog series highlighting Austen-lovers around the world—sharing how they first discovered Austen’s fiction, why they love Austen, how they’ve contributed to the Janeite community, you get the picture. Fans, who cultivate and engage in discourse surrounding Austen’s life and fiction, participate in workshops and conventions, host book clubs, and don I ❤️ Darcy merchandise with pride (but hopefully not prejudice—wink, wink), are the reason Jane’s spirit survives in the twenty-first century. We deserve a shout-out! And we deserve the chance to connect with like-minded individuals across the world. This week’s Spotlight highlights Donna Chaff, a professional musician who dazzles audiences with her Austen-inspired piano concerts.
At age sixty-seven, Donna Chaff is a life-long pianist and retired elementary school music teacher of thirty-five years. Although Donna was born into a sizable family of musicians, she was the only one of them to turn that passion into a professional career, and despite her recent departure from the classroom, she still plays frequently for church and at local concerts. Also an ardent fan of Jane Austen’s work, she has arranged a series of concerts based upon the University of Southampton’s digitized collection of Austen family music to correspond with Austen’s individual novels and heroines.
Donna’s first encounter with Austen’s work came in the form of a four-day course on Pride and Prejudice, which she elected to take as part of a professional development program in education that required her to sign-up for a “non-major” (i.e. music) class. Falling swiftly in love with Elizabeth and Darcy, Donna soon moved onto the rest of Austen’s novels, as well as biographical accounts of her life. Her newfound interest in all-things-Austen also led her to sign up for more classes, workshops, and several Regency-inspired weekend get-aways, and her closet currently boasts a stunning range of (hand-made!) early nineteenth-century ballgowns, hats, and undergarments.
Donna’s work on her Austen-inspired concert series began in 2016, one year following the digitalization of all eighteen of the Austen family’s music books, seven of which belonged to Jane herself. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, anyone with internet access can now peruse the entire collection, comprising nearly 600 pieces, on the Internet Archive.
The digitalization of the Austen family music collection just so happened to coincide with the time of Donna’s retirement, leading her to begin the Austenian concert series project. In preparation, she studied selections from the Austen family collection in conversation with musical references in Austen’s texts, as well as the broader musical history of the Regency era. Donna carefully combed through each of Austen’s novels, marking the scenes in which music is present: “Is it a dance? Is it a Scottish folk song? Is it a waltz? Is it a concerto?”
Choosing complimentary selections from the Austen family collection, Donna arranged concerts corresponding to each of the novels, as well as her “Musical Heroines” concert, which matches each Austen heroine to certain songs, based both on their personalities and musical abilities. (For instance, the songs dedicated to Marianne Dashwood or Jane Fairfax, both highly gifted pianists, would differ greatly from those dedicated to Catherine Morland.)
“The classical music form is sort of like Pride and Prejudice,” Donna says, speaking of her musical inspiration. “You’ve got the intro, then you’ve got the build-up, and then you’ve got the climax. Then you’ve got the recapitulation over here, and then you’ve got the ending. It’s the same type of musical language that’s in [Jane Austen’s] novels as well.”
Donna also studies the social implications of a family’s musical tastes and abilities in the Regency era. If one owned a piano, it meant they were wealthy enough to forgo household work and engage in leisure activities—wealthy enough to afford the expensive instrument, too. Women were also able to flaunt their “assets” while performing for guests, enticing a single young man of good fortune to come turn their pages, or perhaps even play a duet if they were lucky, like Jane and Mr. Knightley in Emma. What better way to flirt?
Because sheet music was so expensive, hand-copying borrowed music—often popular tunes from theatrical productions or operas—was also a fun social activity for girls. (Kind of like the Regency-era equivalent of sharing a Spotify playlist, am I right?) In Emma, Harriet’s first proposal from Robert Martin comes enclosed in a returned packet of music the Martin sisters had recently borrowed. And in the Austen family music collection, several sheets of music were hand-copied by Jane Austen herself!
When Donna performs her Austen-inspired concerts—at which time she officially becomes “Lady Maria Chaffington,” a title bestowed upon her purchase of five square-feet of land in Scotland—she puts her closet of Regency-garb to good use. She even brings extra items for the audience members: bonnets, gloves, one of her many fans. (Donna’s collection boasts over 100 fans from around the world, including a sequined fan from Napoleon-era France.) She feels that immersion in the Regency world is crucial in experiencing Austen’s work.
And when it comes to “Austenland” immersion, Donna practices what she preaches. On her retirement trip to England back in 2016, Donna and her husband visited Bath, London, Steventon, Winchester, and of course, Chawton Cottage—where she was invited to play the 1813 Clementi piano on display. Although the instrument did not belong to the Austen family, it would have been a very similar model to that which Jane played.
“That was a real highlight,” Donna says, stars still shining in her eyes. “I mean, you’re right there. There’s her desk in the other room, her bedroom’s upstairs, and here you are playing the piano like she did every day. Yeah, that was pretty awesome.”
Connect with Donna via her website.
Excerpted from Zoom interview with Donna Chaff, March 25, 2024.
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