Amanda Pitt (soprano) and Gavin Roberts (forte piano) from Bampton Classical Opera presented a considered and emotive concert, which was perfectly linked to much of the research presented at the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies annual conference. The majority of the music for this concert came from the Austen Family Music Books, which were the subject of a major research project undertaken by Jeanice Brooks, David Owen Norris and Samantha Carrasco at the University of Southampton. The project also produced an album entitled Entertaining Miss Austen released by Dutton Epoch in 2009, where keen readers who missed the concert will be able to listen to many of the songs performed. The concert programme captured the diversity of the collection, exploring classic themes such as love, both romantic and unrequited, but also more controversial topics, heard in songs such as A Hindustani Girl’s Song, adapted by Mr Biggs and Fandango by Ann Thickness. Though these songs were composed with the fashions of the day in mind, the musical idioms can sound uncomfortably stereotyped to modern ears, a reminder they are an eighteenth-century British composer’s impression of other nations and cultures. Colonialism and nationalism were key topics of discussion at the conference and as problematic as these songs may be, their performance encourages further discussion about the history of popular British music.

While the concert was mainly accompanied solo voice, peppered throughout were solo piano arrangements, many of which required agile accuracy. Roberts even jokingly suggested a member of the Austen family must have been a very fine piano player. It is known that Jane Austen was a proficient pianist and is said to have owned a square piano very similar to the Clementi square piano from 1810, which is now on display at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire. Roberts was able to demonstrate his own virtuosity in Robin Adair –the Andante Simplice was light and bouncy and nicely contrasted with the more virtuosic Brillante, which Roberts performed with fast-paced delicacy. In the accompanied songs, Roberts generously supported Pitt, matching her range of vocal expression and colour, particularly in Haydn’s The Mermaid Song and She never told her love. The forte piano used in this concert was kindly provided by Alexander Skeaping and suited the range and style of repertoire.

The concert was split into three thematic sections: Entertainments: Theatre & Ballroom, Marriage: Love & Disappointment and History & Geography and featured well-known composers such as G. F. Handel and Franz Joseph Haydn but also Stephen Storace and Charles Dibdin, who although somewhat lesser known today, were very popular theatre composers in the late eighteenth century. Featuring these forgotten composers is part of the Bampton Classical Opera model as they pride themselves on ‘staging rarities from the late eighteenth century’ (Concert Programme, 2020). While the Austen family’s music collection was the focus, Pitt and Roberts made sure to include items performed in previous Bampton productions. These were announced on the night, but noteworthy was the performance of W.A. Mozart’s ‘Nun liebes Weibche’ from Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone), a lesser-known collaboratively-composed singspiel by the aforementioned Mozart, Franz Xaver Gerl, Johann Baptist Henneberg, Benedikt Schack and Emanuel Schikaneder. Roberts did well to bring out Mozart’s signature playfulness in the introduction before Pitt introduced the more emotive melody line. Though much of the concert was delicate and expressive, Pitt was able to show a more powerful, virtuosic side to her singing in an aria from Storace’s Gli Equivoci (The Comedy of Errors). The Irishman by Dibdin closed the concert, ending the evening in delightful humour with Pitt and Roberts playing off one another to bring the character of the work to life.

This was an enjoyable concert, showcasing a range of repertoire, both well and lesser known.

Bampton Classical Opera’s Entertaining Miss Austen was performed as part of BSECS 2020 at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, on 9 January 2020. Their next production is of Paris and Helen by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1770). It will take place at Gardens at The Grange, Bampton, Oxfordshire: Friday 17, Saturday 18 July; The Orangery Theatre, Westonbirt School, Glos: Monday 31 August; and St John’s Smith Square, London: Friday 18 September. Please see their website for further details: https://www.bamptonopera.org/index.htm.