Anne Lister and Friends: Life, words and music
Event details
Diarist Anne Lister is now celebrated the world over for her extraordinary contribution to literary heritage, but how many of us are aware she was also a keen musician?
Two of her music books, containing printed music she bought, received as gifts and played to friends and lovers, have survived in her former home - Shibden Hall, Halifax - and have been digitised to be made freely available online to the public. The project is part of a collaboration between the University of York, the University of Southampton, Calderdale Museums and square-pianist Lisa Timbs dedicated to understanding the role of music in creating social intimacy among elite women in early 19th-century Yorkshire. As part of the online archive many of Lister's personal accounts of music-making among friends and attendance at concerts and the opera both at home and abroad will be presented alongside recorded performances of the music itself on instruments of the period with the tone and tuning Lister herself would have been familiar with.
Our concert, in the glorious setting of the State Room of York's Mansion House, draws together spoken passages from the writings of Lister and her contemporaries, including Jane Ewbank of York, Jane Austen and others, interwoven with live performances of musical works mentioned, images from the music books, and representations of domestic interiors of the time by Mary Ellen Best of York, among others. A recording of parts of this event will be made available as a further addition to the online archive.
Audience members are invited to a complimentary drinks reception in the Drawing Room after the event to chat with the creative team and performers.
- Project Directors: Rachel Cowgill, Jeanice Brooks, Lisa Timbs and Constance Halstead
- Voices: Ellie Astridge and Vivien Ellis
- Piano: Lisa Timbs
- Flute: Sarah McNulty
- Narrator: Iris Skipworth
We are grateful to Queer Arts for supporting this event.
Please note: This event is being recorded.
Accessibility: Limited wheelchair spaces available for this event. Please contact the Festival team at yorkfestivalofideas@york.ac.uk if you require accessible seating.
Image credit: Elliott Smith
About the speakers and performers
Rachel Cowgill is Professor of Music and Director of the Humanities Research Centre at the University of York and a specialist in gender and performance in late Georgian British musical culture.
Jeanice Brooks is Professor of Music at the University of Southampton and specialises in domestic music c1800 and the sonic interpretation of historic houses.
Constance Halstead is the Sally Wainwright PhD Scholar at the University of York’s Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, investigating the materiality and enigmatic written forms of Lister’s journal and how she drew on and developed 18th-century conventions of diary writing.
Lisa Timbs is a pianist and historical milliner. She specialises in the research and performance of music from domestic collections such as those belonging to the Austen and Lister families. In the autumn she will be joining the University of York to study for a PhD on Anne Lister and Music.
Ellie Astridge, soprano, graduated recently from the University of Manchester and is continuing her studies on the prestigious GRNCM ‘Joint Course’ at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutelage of Hilary Summers.
Vivien Ellis is a singer and researcher specialising in early music. She leads community choirs for wellbeing and has performed in ensembles including The Telling, The Carnival Band and Sinfonye.
Sarah McNulty completed her PhD in baroque performance practice in 2011. She performs with period-instrument orchestras and teaches flute at York St John University.
Iris Skipworth is a writer and twice National Champion and Guinness World Record-holding Storyteller from Manchester. She is the founder of A Sting In The Tale storytelling club.
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