This article explores connections between musical performance, race, and social status in Sarah Harriet Burney’s novels, Geraldine Fauconberg, Clarentine and Traits of Nature. It examines representations of white music-making in Clarentine before comparing
the uneasy relationship Burney sets up among music, social class, and race in Geraldine Fauconberg alongside depictions of race in her bestseller, Traits of Nature. Chronologically, Burney’s novels shift from a positive representation of musical accomplishment in Clarentine to a more negative representation in Traits of Nature. Burney’s racial attitudes can be viewed through the lens of music-making. In this vein, there are similarities between Black characters and musically accomplished women as both are subject to a specific type of scrutiny which Burney deplores. Contemporary racial theory and Burney’s background are considered alongside episodes of music-making and representations of Black characters in the novels.