Phil Trajetta (1777-1854) : Patriot, Immigrant, Musician

The tale of Phil Trajetta (1777-1854) is marked by the intrigues of youthful passions, war, imprisonment, and escape as well as travel, adventure, and entrepreneurial schemes. The son of a famous musical father and the bearer of impeccable musical credentials, he travelled to the United States in 1799 and devoted his life to musical endeavours until a few years before his death in 1854. His career as a composer, performer, and educator was prominent and entirely respectable. In fact, he founded viable musical conservatories in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia and, with a sojourn as a violinist in Charleston, South Carolina, placed himself in the four leading centres of music in the United States of his day. He was the creator of secular compositions as well as sacred works. He was the author of theoretical tracts that enjoyed several reprintings. What adds special interest to his consideration is that his original homeland was not located on the British Isles or in Germanic states but on the Italian peninsula. His musical experience and his point of departure, as a result, were not as common in the new American nation as those of his British- or German-born peers. Franco Sciannameo's study of Trajetta is the first in the English language. A facsimile edition of his treatise An Introduction to the Art and Science of Music (3rd ed., 1873), modern editions of representative compositions, and a catalogue of extant works are presented alongside commentary in which the known details of Trajetta's life are documented and contextualised.