Moravian Church music

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.

The initial settlement in Georgia proved unsuccessful, partly because of war between Protestant England and Catholic Spain to the south in Florida.

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.

This dedication to sharing and receiving information continues today through the worldwide Moravian Unity, including Africa and the Caribbean.

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.

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.

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.

A significant addition to Moravian worship materials was made with the introduction of the Losungen, or Daily Texts, in 1728.

While the 18th century Losungen were generally drawn from Scripture texts, they might also consist of a hymn stanza or a portion thereof.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

While neither Moravian in content nor in origin, the Lowens Collection is an extremely valuable resource for hymnological study, both in music and texts.

With each loan, information is available regarding Moravian history and culture, composer biographies, and the context in which the music was written and used.

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.

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.