William Trent House
The Trent House Association presented The Practitioners of Musick in a performance honoring the Scottish heritage of William Trent and celebrating the 300th anniversary of the house he built at the Falls of the Delaware in 1719. The program, “Caledonia,” included music for recorder and harpsichord composed by Bremner, Oswald, and Ramsey, among other Scottish masters, and was performed in the historic house.
Born in Inverness, Scotland, William Trent immigrated to Philadelphia and established himself as a very successful shipping merchant. In 1714 he acquired much of the land that now is the city of Trenton and in 1719 built his Georgian style mansion on his plantation there. Entertainments he hosted would likely have included music by 18th Century Scottish composers, which will be performed in the same rooms that Trent and his guests would have heard them.