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Music is also used to comfort. Helen comforts Arthur by singing to him. ‘He<br />
(Arthur) says he is glad to be home again……He lies on the sofa nearly all day<br />
long; and I play and sing to him for hours together.’<br />
Music is requested most when it is used for the amusement of a company of<br />
people. Here is a typical home party.<br />
‘We wound up the evening with dancing – our worthy pastor thinking<br />
it no scandal to be present on the occasion, though one of the village<br />
musicians was engaged to direct our evolutions with his violin… With a<br />
single set of quadrilles, and several country dances, we carried it on to a<br />
pretty late hour, ..’<br />
Music was also used, in those days, to win a man’s heart.<br />
‘Now, Miss Wilmot, won’t you give us some music tonight?’ said he,<br />
‘Do now! I know you will, when I tell you that I have been hungering<br />
and thirsting all day, for the sound of your voice. Come! The piano is<br />
vacant.’ ... ‘Meantime, she (Annabella) exultantly seated herself at the<br />
piano, and favoured him with two of his favourite songs, in such a<br />
superior style that eve I soon lost my anger in admiration, …’<br />
Anne’s usage of music in her two novels shows how music was appreciated<br />
and exploited among middle class families. There were no CDs or radios.<br />
Music could only be enjoyed when performed live, either in the home, if<br />
someone could play and/or sing, or at concerts.<br />
Charlotte’s Jane Eyre<br />
In Jane Eyre, after being severely punished by her aunt, Jane is soothed by<br />
Bessie, a servant. She sings her a song about gypsies which she heard many<br />
times before but it was a very sad song. She also sings about a ‘poor orphan<br />
child’. Later in the novel, Mrs Fairfax, in a conversation with Jane, describes<br />
past family concerts:<br />
‘She (Miss Ingram) was one of the ladies who sang: a gentleman<br />
accompanied her on the piano. She and Mr Rochester sang a duet.’<br />
‘Mr Rochester? I was not aware he could sing.’<br />
‘Oh! He has a fine bass voice, and an excellent taste for music.’<br />
Villette<br />
Villette was written after a series of family tragedies – the death of Aunt<br />
Branwell at 65 in 1842, Branwell at 31 in Sept 1848, Emily at 30 in Dec 1848<br />
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