Katrina Trask’s Music Brought to Life 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Katrina Trask is well-known to locals as one of the driving forces behind Yaddo, the artists’ community that helped foster the talents of James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Sylvia Path, and many others. 

Less known is that Trask was herself an artist. She was a poet, author, playwright, and songwriter with a handful of titles to her name, perhaps most notably the anti-war play “In the Vanguard,” written on the eve of World War I. 

At the Canfield Casino last Thursday evening, Trask’s original music compositions were performed by soprano Eileen Egan Mack and pianist Michael Clement. Songs attributed solely to Trask included “The Pine Tree,” “The Crimson Rose,” “Courage, O Heart,” “Lord of the Heavenly Host,” “Thine Eyes,” and “Darling, Darling.” These poetic ballads tended to sound a bit like religious hymns with perhaps elements of what we would today identify as singer-songwriter or jazz.

The program also included songs with lyrics written by Trask, including “Come Into the Garden,” (music by Bertha Remick); “A Song of Yaddo,” (music by A. Parsons); “Consolation,” (music by Dudley Buck); and “God Understands,” (music by R. Nathaniel Dett). In the early 20th century, Dett was a leading Black composer who incorporated elements of African American music into classical compositions. Trask’s collaboration with him is especially notable, considering Dett was born just 17 years after the end of the Civil War.

Rounding out the evening were a few samples of music created by Trask’s contemporaries, such as “Vocalise” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, a unique composition that has no lyrics and is sung with only one vowel.

The Saratoga Springs History Museum credited the research of Rumara Jewett with making the event possible. Jewett, the museum said, has uncovered a wealth of historical material about Trask’s music.