The Musical Worlds of Ann Radcliffe

Abstract

Olivia Wikle is a second-year Master of Library Science student, specializing in Digital Humanities. Prior to studying librarianship, she received an M.A. in Musicology from The Ohio State University, and she is especially interested in how digital research can be used to expand the ways students think about and understand music and history. Her HASTAC project centers around the intersection of literature and music in late eighteenth-century Britain by mapping musical performances that gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) may have heard. The project’s interactive map will show where and when London performances took place, and each musical occurrence will be accompanied by details and excerpts from reviews. Visualizing these performances over space and time will allow for a careful consideration of how some of this music may have influenced Radcliffe’s unusual narrative use of music in her novels. To facilitate a comparison of Radcliffe’s text with the reviews and details of the music itself, this project will also incorporate historical research, topic modeling, and text analysis. In its finished form, this project will have the potential to be used as an educational tool to assist students in interpreting eighteenth-century concert life, and to suggest insights into influences behind Radcliffe’s use of music.