Transcriber's Note
About this book: James Monroe Trotter (1842-1892) was born intoslavery in Mississippi. His mother escaped with Trotter and hisbrother via the Underground Railroad, and they settled in Cincinnati,where Trotter became a teacher. He moved to Boston and fought in theCivil War, becoming the first African-American to achieve the rank ofSecond Lieutenant in the Union Army. He later became the firstAfrican-American to be employed by the U.S. Post Office, but resignedin protest when discrimination prevented his promotion. His Music andSome Highly Musical People, written in 1878, is said to be the firstcomprehensive study of music written in the United States. In 1887,President Cleveland appointed Trotter to the office of Recorder ofDeeds for the District of Columbia, succeeding the greatAfrican-American statesman Frederick Douglass in what was then thehighest government position to be attained by an African-American.(Source: Wikipedia.) This e-book was prepared from a 1968 reprintpublished by the Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York.
The Appendix is comprised almost entirely of music, whichwas transcribed using Finale 2009. For eachof the 13 pieces, the first page of the music is displayed in theHTML, along with links to a midi file [Listen]; a PDF file[PDF] containing the original images of thecomplete piece; and a MusicXMLfile [XML], which can be viewed in most browsers, text editors,and music notation applications. Where a piece has lyrics, the complete lyrics are set outbelow the first-page image. Page numbers have been omitted in thissection but can be viewed in the PDF files.
Obvious printer errors have been corrected in the text and the music.Except where otherwise noted, inconsistencies and errors in thespelling of proper names and non-English words are underlined in red;hover the mouse over the underlined text to see a pop-upTranscriber's Note.Transcriber's Notes for the music are contained in theMusicXML files.
Several subheadings are rendered in the original in blackletter. Inthis e-book, these are rendered as bold italic.
This e-book contains some musical flat symbols, which may not displayproperly depending on the fonts the user has installed. Hover themouse over the symbol to see a pop-up description,e.g. B♭.
MUSIC
AND SOME
HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE:
CONTAINING BRIEF CHAPTERS ON
I. A DESCRIPTION OF MUSIC. II. THE MUSIC OF NATURE.
III. A GLANCE AT THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
IV. THE POWER, BEAUTY, AND
USES OF MUSIC.
FOLLOWING WHICH ARE GIVEN SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF
REMARKABLE MUSICIANS OF THE COLORED RACE.
With Portraits,
AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING COPIES OF MUSIC
COMPOSED BY COLORED MEN.
BY
JAMES M. TROTTER.
"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, andsee a fine picture, every day of his life, in order thatworldly