Moravian Church music
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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 The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...
or Unity of Brethren – that by he mid-18th centuryhad already seen almost three centuries of rich experience of religious life. They were spiritual descendants of the Czech priest
Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspir ...
, who for his attempts at reform was martyred in 1415. Forty-two years later in 1457, some of his followers founded a church body 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 The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
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 Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
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 Carl Philipp Stamitz ( cs, Karel Stamic; baptized 8 May 17459 November 1801) was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School. He was the eldest son of Jo ...
,
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
,
Carl Friedrich Abel Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument. Life Abel was born in Köthen, ...
,
Adalbert Gyrowetz Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (20 February 1763 – 19 March 1850) was a Bohemian composer. He mainly wrote instrumental works, with a great production of string quartets and symphonies; his operas and singspiele numbered mo ...
,
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
, 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 Christian Gregor (January 1, 1723 - November 6, 1801) was a Moravian composer and bishop. Gregor was born to a peasant family living in the Silesian village of Dirsdorf, near Peilau and became a member of the Moravian Church when he was seventeen ...
, 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.


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 Sunrise service is a worship service on Easter Sunday practiced by some Christian denominations, such as the Moravian Church. The sunrise service takes place outdoors, sometimes in a park, and the attendees are seated on outdoor chairs or bench ...
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. 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 most popular ones in Europe in the middle 18th century and later. Moravians seemed to have a voracious appetite for 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 Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
,
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (21 June 1732 – 26 January 1795) was a harpsichordist and composer, the fifth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach". Born in Leipzig in the Electorate of Saxony, he was ...
,
Karl Stamitz Carl Philipp Stamitz ( cs, Karel Stamic; baptized 8 May 17459 November 1801) was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School. He was the eldest son of J ...
; and as little known as
Wenzel Pichl Wenzel is a male given name (long version Wenzeslaus) as the German and Old English form of the Czech given name Václav or Venceslav, meaning "praised with glory". Variations are Вячеслав (Ukrainian and Russian), Vencel (Hungarian), Wacła ...
,
Adalbert Gyrowetz Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (20 February 1763 – 19 March 1850) was a Bohemian composer. He mainly wrote instrumental works, with a great production of string quartets and symphonies; his operas and singspiele numbered mo ...
, 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 Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
were swimming. Many of these works in the American Moravian collections are “only known surviving” copies of music from these composers. Moravian contributions to the instrumental works, while fairly few in number, are significant. An example is
David Moritz Michael David Moritz Michael (October 21, 1751 – February 26, 1827) was a composer. David Moritz Michael was born in Kumhausen in 1751 and was educated in Germany. He became a member of the Moravian Church when he was thirty years old. He taught in ...
’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 John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...
(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 Johann Friedrich Peter (sometimes John Frederick Peter) (May 19, 1746 – July 13, 1813) was an American composer of German origin. Bio Johann Friedrich Peter was born on May 19, 1746, in Heerendijk, Holland, to German parents Susannah Peter an ...
. 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 Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
, 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 The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German- Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century. Generally, while societies such as the (chorale) cultivated ...
was playing the music of the best composers of the day—Bach's sons, Hasse, Stamitz,
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
, and many others, now lesser known. Other Collegia musica were founded -- Lititz (c.1765),
Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
(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 Events Pre-1600 *362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaime ...
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 A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, which are particularly instructive about the
battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...
, the
siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...
, 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 Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...
and an office and archives in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
. 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 The Moravian Church in North America is part of the worldwide Moravian Church Unity. It dates from the arrival of the first Moravian missionaries to the United States in 1735, from their Herrnhut settlement in present-day Saxony, Germany. They c ...
and its constituent bodies, and from nine to sixteen are elected by the Board of Trustees itself. The operations of the Moravian Music Foundation are largely funded by individual contributions, with some support garnered from sales and royalties 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 Johann Friedrich Peter (sometimes John Frederick Peter) (May 19, 1746 – July 13, 1813) was an American composer of German origin. Bio Johann Friedrich Peter was born on May 19, 1746, in Heerendijk, Holland, to German parents Susannah Peter an ...
,
David Moritz Michael David Moritz Michael (October 21, 1751 – February 26, 1827) was a composer. David Moritz Michael was born in Kumhausen in 1751 and was educated in Germany. He became a member of the Moravian Church when he was thirty years old. He taught in ...
,
John Antes John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...
, and Johannes Herbst). A working relationship has been established with
New World Records New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres.Irving Lowens Irving Lowens (19 August 1916 – 14 November 1983) was an American musicologist, critic, and librarian in the Washington, D.C. area. He served as the chief music critic at the ''Washington Star'' newspaper, the Assistant Head of the music divi ...
. 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 New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
, and
Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...
. 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 The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
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 Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded in 1742, Moravian University ...
in Bethlehem, PA;
North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...
; Magnolia Baroque Festival;
Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...
in Winter Park, FL; the
American Brass Quintet When the American Brass Quintet gave its first public performance on December 11, 1960, brass chamber music was still relatively young to concert audiences. The New York Brass Quintet is regarded as the first brass quintet in the United States, ha ...
; 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

Salem Band (Winston-Salem, NC)Moravian Archives, Northern Province (Bethlehem, PA)Moravian Archives, Southern Province (Winston-Salem, NC)Moravian Music Festival

Music Program at Central Moravian Church (Bethlehem, PA)

Salem College School of Music (Winston-Salem, NC)

The Moravian Trombone Choir of Downey, CA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moravian Church Music Classical music in the United States History of the Moravian Church