Maria Hester Reynolds Park

Several English pianists impressed Joseph Haydn on his visits to London, but Maria Hester Park was a particular favourite.

What sort of piano music should we imagine Elizabeth Bennet playing in the drawing rooms of Longbourn and Meryton? The only name dropped in Jane Austen’s novels is John Baptist Cramer, but we do know of other widely published composers of the day; several were women, and one of the most celebrated was Maria Hester Park, née Reynolds.

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