Yonkers, N.Y. (09/25/23) — Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, 29 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, is pleased to host visiting Dutch music group Camerata Trajectina, along with historian Dr. Jaap Jacobs, for “New Amsterdam: The Sounds of the City as Heard by Jacob Steendam, the First Poet of New York,” a special concert held at Philipse Manor Hall on Friday, October 6, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
New York was once known as the Dutch colony of New Netherland, and New York City was once New Amsterdam, a small settlement on the lower tip of Manhattan. While the Dutch brought commerce to Manhattan, they also brought their culture and traditions. Our protagonist, Jacob Steendam, was the first poet of New Amsterdam; from his house on Pearl Street, he walked the streets of the small port-town, hearing the sounds rising from the many taverns and bars: cheers and brawls, intermixed with bawdy songs. As in Old Amsterdam, weddings and parties were not complete without a rousing song, and Steendam supplied a good number of them, bearing witness to the daily life in Manhattan around 1660. It is likely that Frederick Philipse I and his wife Margaret Hardenbroek knew Steendam. His music may have even been played at their 1662 wedding – the year he returned to the Netherlands.
In this very special program at Philipse Manor Hall, Camerata Trajectina follows in Steendam’s footsteps and presents Dutch music that once echoed off the walls of the houses of New Amsterdam. Interspersed with anecdotes and quotes from original sources, this program resurrects the soundscape and musical culture of Dutch Manhattan, thus providing a unique perspective on early New York. Composers will include Jacob van Eyck, William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Claude Goudimel, as well as Camerata’s own versions of popular folk tunes.
For this special event, Camerata teams up with Dr. Jaap Jacobs, an eminent historian of Dutch New York and author of many books and articles on New Amsterdam and its people. The combination of Camerata’s long experience in recreating seventeenth-century Dutch music and Jacobs’s historical expertise ensures the audience an exhilarating and unforgettable musical experience.
Tickets for this live music experience are $25 ($15 for Friends of Philipse Manor Hall) and are available at https://www.friendsofphilipsemanorhall.org/events/concert-camerata-trajectina.
This program is sponsored by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation - Division for Historic Preservation and the Friends of Philipse Manor Hall.
About Camerata Trajectina
Camerata Trajectina has made its name as the “Musical Treasury of the Netherlands.” Their programs combine popular ditties of the 17th century with works of the great Renaissance and Baroque composers, often presented against a political, literary, or artistic backdrop. For nearly 50 years, they have performed countless times at national memorials and royal visits, on radio and on television. They have made nearly 50 recordings and were awarded an Edison Klassiek prize for their recording of the Antwerp Songbook.
In 2014, Camerata Trajectina received the Visser-Neerlandia award for culture from the Algemeen-Nederlands Verbond. The jury was laudatory: “Thanks to their meticulous research and performance, Camerata Trajectina has enriched our understanding of Dutch music from the Middle Ages to the early Baroque. The ensemble brings to light a treasure-trove of previously unknown works, performed passionately and expertly, reaching a wide range of culture enthusiasts.”
“Sublimely performed, just as beautifully recorded, and scrupulously documented. This is a tightly knit ensemble that blows off the dust of centuries, presenting this music in a completely effortless performance.” – Opus Klassiek
Camerata Trajectina members: Nico van der Meel, tenor, Wendy Roobol, soprano, Saskia Coolen, recorder, Cassandra Luckhardt, viola da gamba, Arjen Verhage, lute, Jaap Jacobs, narrator.
About Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, located at 29 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, NY, 10701, is open for tours Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Dating back to the 1680s, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site sits near the confluence of the Nepperhan (Saw Mill) and Hudson Rivers, the site of a Munsee Lunaape village. Used by four generations of the Philipse family and worked by the people they enslaved as well as European tenant farmers, the Philipse Manor was once over 200,000 acres and helped make the Philipse family the richest in New York. Loyalists during the American Revolution, they fled to England and the Hall was owned by several individuals before becoming the Yonkers Village Hall and later Yonkers City Hall. When a new City Hall was built in the early 20th century, the house was preserved through the generosity of Eva Smith Cochran and donated to New York State to serve as a historic site. Today, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site provides visitors with a balanced approach to interpreting the lives of Indigenous, European, and African people to understand the complex relationships that took place at the Manor from the earliest days of the Dutch Colony of New Netherland to the American Revolution and beyond. Learn more at Philipse Manor Hall's Virtual Wing at www.philipsemanorhall.com.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which saw a record 79.5 million visits in 2022. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit parks.ny.gov, download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call (518) 474-0456. Join us in celebrating our Centennial throughout 2024, and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the OPRHP Blog.
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Contact: Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Education & Programs Manager, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site | Sarah.Johnson@parks.ny.gov | (914) 965-4027
Image: Camerata Trajectina