The Journey of Phil Trajetta

This new monograph synthesizes and contextualises the details surrounding the life and work of Filippo (Phil) Trajetta (Venice, 1776 – Philadelphia, 1854), son of celebrated opera composer Tommaso Trajetta (often spelled Traetta).  The volume has been designed to call the attention of musicologists and practitioners alike, to a neglected master who valiantly contributed to the development of music in America at a crucial junction in the Country’s history: the period between American post-Revolution years and the threshold of the Civil War. The amount of literature written about music in ante-bellum America is extensive and accurate; however, Trajetta’s name and activities barely receive a cursory mention. Phil Trajetta, patriot, musician, and immigrant deserves better. His literal and existential journey from political prisoner in Naples during the fall of the short-lived Neapolitan Republic to a free American citizen, speaks volumes about his status as one among the very few fully accredited professional European musicians to establish themselves on this side of the Atlantic. In America, Trajetta created, or was instrumental in creating, three important music schools: The American Conservatorios of Boston (1801), New York (1820), and Philadelphia (1828). The American Conservatorio of Philadelphia, which kept its doors opened for over 20 years, became Phil Trajetta’s ultimate ‘raison d’être’. There, as the leader of the Conservatorio’s orchestra and chorus which included students, friends, and professionals, Trajetta produced his major orchestral/choral compositions, and wrote fundamental pedagogical treatises.

Francesco Zimei, Preface

Introduction

Part One
Chapter One: Musician and Patriot Between Two Worlds
Chapter Two: Salem - Boston - Charleston
Chapter Three: New York City - Enter Eliza
Chapter Four: In the Mountains of Virginia - Da Ponte, Trajetta and Their Family Sagas
Chapter Five: Philadelphia
Chapter Six: Sean Courtice, ‘Solfeggio Americano’ - Trajetta’s Neapolitan Music Pedagogy
Concluding Thoughts
Catalogue of Trajetta’s Extant Works

Part Two
ERO, azione tragica for soprano and piano, c.1815: Historical Introduction and Critical Edition

Bibliography

Appendix
Trajetta’s Primer of Music Designed for the Use of Teachers and Pupils by Phil. Trajetta (1843), reissued with an Appendix by James Cox Beckel (1882). Author’s Collection

Index of Names