Moravian Church music

The Moravian musical tradition in United States began with the

earliest Moravian settlers in the first half of the 18th century.

These Moravians were members of a well-established

church – officially called Unitas Fratrum or Unity of
Brethren – that by [the mid-18th century] had already
seen almost three centuries of rich experience of
religious life. They were spiritual descendants of the
Czech priest Jan Hus, who for his attempts at reform
Trombone Choir of the Moravian
was martyred in 1415. Forty-two years later in 1457,
Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania,
some of his followers founded a church body
c.1900
consecrated to following Christ in simplicity and
dedicated living.

This newly constituted church developed a rich and

orderly ecclesiastical life in the 15th and 16th
centuries, but in the Thirty Years War of 1618-48 it
was virtually wiped out. In the 1720s a few exiles of
this religious heritage, along with various other seekers
after truth, found refuge on an estate of a Saxon
nobleman named Nicholaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf.
There in their village of Herrnhut the ancient church
experienced a rebirth culminating in a spiritual blessing
on August 13, 1727, in which their former diversity of
purpose was welded into one.

In a brief five years, by 1732, that first little village of

the Renewed Moravian Church began sending
missionaries to all corners of the world. After
establishing work in England, the Moravians sent
colonists to America in 1735. The initial settlement in
Georgia proved unsuccessful, partly because of war
between Protestant England and Catholic Spain to the
south in Florida. More permanent work was
established in Pennsylvania in 1741, with the town of
Bethlehem as their chief center. Other settlements in
Pennsylvania followed. The Moravians purchased
100,000 acres (400 km²) in North Carolina and settled
at Bethabara in 1753 with the central town of Salem
being founded in 1766.” [Villages of the Lord]

From its very beginning the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church, kept and preserved careful and
meticulous records of church, community, and commercial life. Along with this emphasis on record-
keeping, the Moravians maintained active communication with other Moravian centers in Europe and
throughout the world. This dedication to sharing and receiving information continues today through the
worldwide Moravian Unity, including Africa and the Caribbean.

Along with their rich devotional life and their missionary fervor, the Moravians maintained their high regard
for education and their love of music as an essential part of life. Moravian composers – also serving as
teachers, pastors, and church administrators – were well versed in the European Classical tradition of
music, and wrote thousands of anthems, solo arias, duets, and the like for their worship services, for voices
accompanied not only by organ but also by string orchestras supplemented by woodwinds and brasses. In
addition, these musicians copied thousands of works by the best-known and loved European composers of
their day – Carl Stamitz, Haydn, Carl Friedrich Abel, Adalbert Gyrowetz, Mozart, the Bach family, and
many whose names have descended into relative obscurity. This rich collection of music manuscripts and
early imprints comprises nearly 10,000 manuscripts and printed works, with some works appearing in
several individual collections. The collections originating in North Carolina are housed in the Moravian
Music Foundation headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC; those originating in Moravian centers in
Pennsylvania and Ohio are housed in the Moravian Archives, Northern Province in Bethlehem, PA.

The musical life in the Moravian settlements was rich and became respected by many in the young country.
This musical life included sacred vocal music for worship services, including, of course, hymns; brass
ensembles, especially trombones, serving specific sociological and liturgical functions; and instrumental
ensemble music for recreation, ranging from works for unaccompanied solo instrument to symphonies and
large oratorios.

A musicologist who knows nothing of the Moravian Church or of its theology and life in the 18th and 19th
centuries can analyze and certainly appreciate Moravian music. However, the more one knows of the
Moravian Church, its life and worship, the more adequate and helpful is the appreciation and understanding
of the music. Nearly all of the sacred vocal music written by Moravian composers was for use in worship
services. Because of the Moravian penchant for recording the crucial factors in their lives, and for
preserving these records in their archives, there is ample means of knowing in depth the context in which
the early Moravian composers lived, wrote, and performed.

In the thought of Zinzendorf, and of the Moravians of his time, all life was seen as “liturgical”. That is,
every aspect of life, even the most mundane, was a sort of worship to be offered to God, after the example
of Christ himself. For this reason, such normally “secular” matters as beginning a new business or reaping
the fields had a religious connotation. To give this ideal of life concrete expression and to nurture the soul
of those who would live it, practical realities naturally led to the development of various worship services
and devotions which gave the Moravian communities a character of their own. Each day began and ended
with worship, both in smaller groups within the community (divided by age and condition of life) and with
the community as a whole.

A significant addition to Moravian worship materials was made with the introduction of the Losungen, or
Daily Texts, in 1728. This could be a private devotional, but it assumed corporate congregational
importance as well. From the time of the first printed Text Book (1731), Moravians throughout the world
have used these texts as a daily devotional guide, either in private devotions or in the brief morning or
evening services for the whole congregation or a specific part of it.

While the 18th century Losungen were generally drawn from Scripture texts, they might also consist of a
hymn stanza or a portion thereof. This was characteristic of the Moravian Church, for it was in its hymnody
and music that it expressed its theology most frequently and visibly.

Zinzendorf encouraged the development of hymn singing. In the early days of Herrnhut, when the
community did not yet enjoy a large repertoire of hymns, he conducted singing classes in which not only
the hymns, but something of the life and purpose of the author was learned. A large hymnal was produced
in 1735 and many more texts were added in its numerous appendices. A slightly more manageable
collection was made in 1754 and 1767. In 1778 there appeared the extremely influential hymnbook of
Christian Gregor, which remained in use among the German-speaking congregations for about a century.
This contained 1750 hymns, 308 of them written or recast by Gregor himself. Gregor’s procedure in
compiling these hymns is also instructive: he often took familiar stanzas from originally different hymns and
put them together into one hymn, sometimes weaving them together with new stanzas of his own.

In 1784, Gregor edited a Choralbuch which contained the most-frequently-used tunes for these hymns. In
this book he cleaned up and added to a tune numbering system developed earlier in the century – a system
by which tunes of the same meter share a number and are distinguished from one another by a letter. For
instance, all the “tune 22s” are long-meter tunes with 8 syllables in each of their four lines. Tunes with the
same number are interchangeable with regard to their meter, although the selection of which particular tune
to use with which text is a choice requiring care and experience. The church bands still use this system
today, with tunes called by number rather than name.

Gregor’s procedure of recombining and adding to the stanzas of hymns may sound a bit unusual. In fact,
that is a very Moravian thing to do, and indeed this sort of approach, which combined new and old hymn
stanzas in creative ways, was central to that most characteristic of Moravian services, the Singstunde. In a
Singstunde, the person in charge selects with care individual stanzas from various hymns in such a manner
that they will develop some Christian truth or theme as the singing progresses. In the 18th century, the
congregation, which possessed an unusual command of the hymnal, would fall in with the leader before he
reached the end of the first line of each stanza, singing by heart. No address was given on such occasions
as none was needed. And even now, the first-line index to the Moravian Book of Worship includes first
lines of all stanzas, not just the first.

Contents
Categories of Moravian music
Characteristics of Moravian vocal music
The American Moravian music collections
The Moravian Music Foundation
Conclusion
Recordings
References
External links

Categories of Moravian music

The richest body of Moravian music is that composed for worship. However, there are other aspects of the
musical life of the American Moravians which should not be overlooked.

First is what is most likely the best known aspect of Moravian music: the trombone choirs. Moravians have
used brass ensembles and bands since their earliest years in Herrnhut to announce special events and to
accompany singing at outdoor services and funerals. The Easter Band for the sunrise service in Salem
numbers some 500 band members representing the 12 congregations of the Salem Congregation (the
Moravian churches in Winston-Salem, NC) as well as players from across the country. Moravian chorales
used by the trombone choirs and church bands tend to be fairly stately and to have active parts for all four
voices, which reflects the singing of a congregation – also singing in parts.

When a member of the church dies,
it is announced by the trombone
choir from the belfry of the church.
While the funeral service is being
held in the church, the body of the
deceased lies in the Corpse House
at the rear of the church. After the
service, the coffin is placed on a bier a voracious appetite for
and covered with a white cloth, as it
is borne to the cemetery. At the
grave a responsive service,
participated in by the minister and
the people, and with trombone
accompaniment, is rendered. See
also aequales.
collections are “only known surviving” copies of music from these composers.
The second type of music is
the secular instrumental
music in the Moravian
collections. This includes
some music by Moravian
composers, but by far the
greater part of the
instrumental music is not by
Moravians, instead by
composers who were the A four-trombone choir plays by
most popular ones in torchlight on Easter Day, to
Europe in the middle 18th announce the Easter sunrise service
century and later. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Moravians seemed to have
new music and collected, purchased, and copied everything they
could get their hands on. American Moravian music collections
contain several thousand pieces by composers as well known as
Haydn, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Karl Stamitz; and as little
known as Wenzel Pichl, Adalbert Gyrowetz, and Kleinknecht.
What the Moravians have in their instrumental collections is a
cross-section of the musical culture out of which the masters arose
– the cultural sea in which Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven were
swimming. Many of these works in the American Moravian

Moravian contributions to the instrumental works, while fairly few in number, are significant. An example
is David Moritz Michael’s “Water Journey” for woodwind sextet, which was written for a holiday outing
along the Lehigh River in Bethlehem, PA. Musicians played on a barge and floated down the river while
the townspeople strolled along the bank.

There are also string works by Moravian composers. John Antes (1740–1811) wrote a set of three string
trios, which are lovely and challenging and have been recorded. These trios were published in England
prior to 1795 under the name “Giovanni A-T-S, Dillettante Americano”. They are the earliest known
chamber music written by a composer born in America. Antes was born in Pennsylvania and served the
Moravian Church as a missionary in Egypt. In addition to the trios we have, he also wrote some string
quartets which are now missing. The truly international scope of the Moravian Church can be seen in the
story of these quartets: here was an American-born missionary in Egypt, sending copies of his string
quartets to an American diplomat in France, quartets which he had written for an English nobleman and his
associates in India. His three trios were dedicated to the Swedish ambassador in Constantinople. These trios
have been published by the Moravian Music Foundation in a scholarly edition.

Also by a Moravian composer are the six string quintets (two violins, two violas, and cello) by Johann
Friedrich Peter. These were written in Salem, NC in 1789. Peter was probably the most gifted and
accomplished Moravian composer. In addition to these string quintets, he wrote nearly 100 vocal works.

"Secular" groups—chamber ensembles and concert bands—developed along a parallel stream to the
"trombone choirs". While the trombone choirs and church bands focus their attention primarily on chorales,
the community bands and chamber ensembles play primarily what we would now call "secular" music --
chamber music, marches, dances, arrangements of popular music of various sorts. These groups provide not
only entertainment for player and audience alike but also enable the players to improve through playing
more challenging music.

By the 1780s the Bethlehem Collegium musicum was playing the music of the best composers of the day—
Bach's sons, Hasse, Stamitz, Haydn, and many others, now lesser known. Other Collegia musica were
founded -- Lititz (c.1765), Nazareth (c. 1780), and Salem (c.1786) -- the latter continuing on until about
1835. The increasing demand for music by these groups stimulated the American Moravians to a veritable
frenzy of copying and transcribing from European masterworks as well as composing their own works.
The Salem Collegium musicum collection holds about 500 compositions, of which about 150 are in
manuscript form. String music is prevalent in all of the instrumental music collections, with genres ranging
from works for unaccompanied violin through classical symphonies.

The final aspect and the “heart and soul” of Moravian music is the sacred vocal music. This was music
specifically written for worship services. Moravians wrote thousands of anthems, solos, and duets for
voices accompanied by chamber orchestra – a rarity in colonial America. In 1783, Moravians in Salem held
the first celebration of July 4 in the country with a challenging music program assembled by Johann
Friedrich Peter. This work was titled the Psalm of Joy.

Characteristics of Moravian vocal music

They are based upon biblical or hymn texts, often the Daily Text assigned for the day of the
first presentation of the work.
The voice parts tend to move all together so that the words can be understood rather than
any imitative writing such as Bach would do. In this way the Moravians resemble Handel
more than Bach.
They often have elaborate instrumental introductions and interludes, but the instrumental
parts provide support when the voices are singing rather than drawing attention away from
the text.
Thus they are straightforward, well-crafted works like other Moravian arts and crafts.

The American Moravian music collections

These include:

Manuscript and printed orders of service from the 18th century forward
Manuscript and printed instructional books in music
Sacred music: hundreds of manuscript anthems, vocal duets, and vocal solos, dating from
the 19th and early 19th centuries, mostly written by Moravians in an early-Classical style
with accompaniment by chamber orchestra
Hymnals dating from the 16th century to the present in languages ranging from English and
German to Afrikaans and Czech
Instrumental music: hundreds of manuscript and printed works ranging in size from solo
sonatas to symphonies by a wide range of European composers, some of which are the only
known surviving copies (such as the Symphony in E Major by JCF Bach)
Bound collections of sheet music dating from the mid-19th century forward, including a piano
exercises book containing the first printing of the Star Spangled Banner, one of only nine
surviving copies
Music books and some correspondence of the band of the 26th NC Regiment from the Civil
War, which are particularly instructive about the battle of Gettysburg, the siege of Petersburg,
and the road to Appomattox. There is a complete set of band books (all parts) from the 26th
 NC Regimental Band as well as individual part books believed to be from the 21st and 33rd
NC Regimental Bands.
A growing collection of music written by living, contemporary American Moravian composers

The Moravian Music Foundation

Moravian sacred vocal music was used in Moravian worship in America through the early part of the 19th
century. With the gradual change from German to English services however, the musicians found that it
was often easier to write a new work in English that it was to translate one from German to English and
make it “singable”. As the American Moravians became more “American”, their old style music fell out of
favor. Because of the penchant of Moravians to carefully keep their old stuff, the music was not discarded
completely. Instead it was packed away in boxes, envelopes, and even a cracker barrel. Nearly a century
later in the 1940s, scholars began to ask questions about this old music. As cataloging and research efforts
were undertaken, scholars found that there was a great deal of this music and that much of it was of high
quality. The first “Early American Moravian Music Festival” was held in Bethlehem, PA in 1950 and was
conducted by Dr. Thor Johnson. The success of that experience led to another festival in 1954 and another
in 1955. Recognizing the amount of hard work involved simply in preparing music for these Festivals, a
group of clergy and laymen worked together to organize the Moravian Music Foundation in 1956 to do just
that.

The Moravian Music Foundation’s mission is to preserve, share,

and celebrate the musical culture of Moravians. It is an independent
501(c)(3) non profit, tax-exempt corporation with two offices: the
headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC and an office and archives in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There are four staff members, as well as
part-time contract staff hired as needed for special projects as
funding permits. The Moravian Music Foundation is governed by a
Board of Trustees, of whom twelve are appointed by the Moravian
Church in America and its constituent bodies, and from nine to
sixteen are elected by the Board of Trustees itself. The operations Choir and Orchestra of the 2006
of the Moravian Music Foundation are largely funded by individual Moravian Music Festival in
contributions, with some support garnered from sales and royalties Columbus, OH
revenue, grants for special projects, and annual support from the
Moravian Church in America.

The Foundation is custodian and curator of the music collections of the Moravian Church in America.
Contracts between the constituent bodies of the Moravian Church and the Moravian Music Foundation
empower the Foundation to edit, publish, record, and otherwise disseminate this music. The Foundation has
overseen the publication of over 400 works with some two million copies in circulation worldwide. These
published works contain a brief historical introduction to the Moravian musical culture. Forty-four orchestra
works from American Moravian collections have been edited and placed in the Fleisher Collection of the
Philadelphia Free Library and are thus available for loan to orchestras around the world. The Foundation
continues to produce scholarly musical editions for study and performance, and has begun a series of
“simplified arrangements” of Moravian vocal works intended for smaller choirs.

The Moravian Music Foundation is involved in a long-term project to produce high quality recordings of
the works of the major American Moravian composers (beginning with the works of Johann Friedrich
Peter, David Moritz Michael, John Antes, and Johannes Herbst). A working relationship has been
established with New World Records, the producers of the Recorded Anthology of American Music.
Under this agreement, the Foundation produces scholarly editions of the works to be recorded, arranges for
the recordings, and oversees the production of detailed historical liner notes with each recording.
The Foundation is also the custodian of several privately owned collections, and has received some
important collections from other than Moravian sources. The largest of these is the collection of musical
Americana donated by Irving Lowens. This collection contains some 2,000 volumes including American
hymnals and psalm books from the 18th and 19th centuries. While neither Moravian in content nor in
origin, the Lowens Collection is an extremely valuable resource for hymnological study, both in music and
texts.

The Moravian Music Foundation manages music lending libraries of three types: sacred choral anthems;
instrumental parts to edited and published Moravian anthems; and edited instrumental works from the
Moravian collections. With each loan, information is available regarding Moravian history and culture,
composer biographies, and the context in which the music was written and used.

To support research into the musical holdings, the Foundation’s Winston-Salem headquarters houses the
Peter Memorial Library, a research collection of some 6,000 volumes specializing in Protestant church
music and American music history. This library (while not a circulating collection) is open to the public.
The Foundation provides research guidance for graduate degree studies; most recently completely and
ongoing doctoral studies involve candidates from Catholic University, Cincinnati Conservatory, New York
University, and Temple University. The Foundation also produces its own research.

The Moravian Music Foundation provides programming consultation for over a dozen professional music
groups worldwide, as well as for college and community special events.. The Foundation also serves as
music director for the regular Moravian Music Festivals presented by the Moravian Church. These festivals
occur every three to five years, alternating between the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian
Church in America, and attract some 300 people from around the world. Festivals include concerts,
seminars, and workshops. Newly edited pieces from the Moravian collections are showcased during
Festival concerts.

The Foundation publishes a quarterly Newsletter; monographs on specific topics; catalogs of its collections
in book form; the Companion to the Moravian Book of Worship; and several editions of sheet music edited
from the Moravian collections. It also self produces CDs in addition to those produced by New World
Records.

The Moravian Music Foundation works with two resident mixed-voice choral groups, the Moramus
Chorale based in Winston-Salem, NC and the Unitas Chorale based in the Lehigh Valley area of
Pennsylvania. These groups share Moravian vocal music by performing regularly in their local
communities. Occasionally they employ instrumental ensembles to accompany them and to perform some
of the many instrumental pieces found in the Moravian collections. In addition to the Moramus and Unitas
Chorales, the Moravian Music Foundation has provided music and programming support to Moravian
College in Bethlehem, PA; North Carolina School of the Arts; Magnolia Baroque Festival; Rollins College
in Winter Park, FL; the American Brass Quintet; and Carolina Pro Musica, as well as to various Moravian
and other denomination churches, community ensembles, and other professional groups.

Conclusion
For the Moravians, music has always been seen as a necessity of life, not as a luxury. Moravians have
always used their music to express their faith, to communicate their faith, and to enjoy each other’s
company, and continue to do so today. The musical heritage of the Moravians is a living tradition that is still
evolving. The Moravian tradition of the trombone choir continues today with trombone choirs in various
Moravian communities and in the church bands active in most Moravian congregations. The tradition of
secular instrumental music continues in the Moravian church centers of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and
Ohio through various community music ensembles. The sacred music tradition continues as well, both in
preserving and sharing the old music and in writing new.
Recordings
Lost Music of Early America. Music of the Moravians. Boston Baroque/Martin Pearlman,
conductor. Performed on Period Instruments. Telarc CD-80482
The Water Journey by David Moritz Michael. Includes Parthien 1 and 2. Pacific Classical
Winds. New World Records 80490-2
By a Spring by David Moritz Michael. Includes Parthien 3, 4, and 5. Pacific Classical Winds.
New World Records 80531-2
Parthien 6-9 by David Moritz Michael. Pacific Classical Winds. New World Records 80538-2
Parthien 10-14 by David Moritz Michael. Pacific Classical Winds. New World Records
80580-2
John Antes' String Trios and Johann Friedrich Peter's String Quintets. American Moravian
Chamber Ensemble. New World Records 80507-2
Storm in the Land: Music of the 26th NC Regimental Band, CSA. American Brass Quintet
Brass Band. New World Records 80608-2
Cheer, Boys, Cheer!: Music of the 26th NC Regimental Band, CSA. American Brass Quintet
Brass Band. New World Records 80652-2
Joining Our Voices: Moravian Hymns. Moravian Music Foundation
Mit Freuden Zart: Moravian Chorales for Band. Giannini Brass. Moravian Music Foundation
Sing O Ye Heavens. Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra of Winter Park, FL.
Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers: Moravian Advent and Christmas. Moravian Music Foundation
Music for All Seasons The Moravian Trombone Choir of Downey and the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Trombone Ensemble. Crystal Records

References
Crews, C. Daniel. Villages of the Lord: The Moravians Come to Carolina. Winston-Salem,
NC: Moravian Archives, 1995.
Frank, Albert H. Companion to the Moravian Book of Worship. Winston-Salem, NC:
Moravian Music Foundation, 2004. Second printing 2005.
Knouse, Nola Reed. Moravian Music: 101. Winston-Salem, NC: Moravian Music
Foundation. Lecture.

External links
The Moravian Music Foundation (http://www.moravianmusic.org)
Salem Band (Winston-Salem, NC) (http://www.salemband.org)
Moravian Archives, Northern Province (Bethlehem, PA) (http://www.moravianchurcharchive
s.org)
Moravian Archives, Southern Province (Winston-Salem, NC) (http://www.moravianarchives.
org)
Moravian Music Festival (http://www.moravianmusicfestival.org)
Music Program at Central Moravian Church (Bethlehem, PA) (http://www.centralmoravianch
urch.org/music)
Salem College School of Music (Winston-Salem, NC) (https://web.archive.org/web/2007010
6011623/http://www.salem.edu/old/go/music/)
Moravian College Music Department (Bethlehem, PA) (https://web.archive.org/web/2007021
6232701/http://www.moravian.edu/academics/departments/music/index.htm)
 The Moravian Trombone Choir of Downey, CA (http://MoravianTromboneChoir.org)

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