What did 17th century New Netherland sound like? On tour from The Netherlands, historical music ensemble Camerata Trajectina will perform “New Amsterdam: The Sounds of the City as Heard by Jacob Steendam, First Poet of New York” in the Philipse Manor Hall Gothic Chamber. Steendam was a Dutch poet in early New Amsterdam (today New York City) and Camerata Trajectina teams up with historian Dr. Jaap Jacobs to resurrect the soundscape and musical culture of Dutch Manhattan through Steendam’s words and music from the period.
Tickets are $15 for Friends of Philipse Manor Hall members, $25 for the general public. Tickets available at www.friendsofphilipsemanorhall.org.
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.
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 Dr. Jaap Jacobs
Jaap Jacobs (PhD Leiden, 1999) is affiliated with the University of St Andrews. He has specialized in the early American history, specifically the Dutch in the Americas in the early modern period. He has taught at universities in the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom. His publications on Dutch New York include The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009 and “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam,” New York History, forthcoming August 2023. He is currently working on a biography of Petrus Stuyvesant. You can find books by Dr. Jacobs in the Philipse Manor Hall gift shop.
