“Moravians will mark music heritage Sunday” and “Moravians brought to new country” from the February 26 and March 2, 1976 Door County Advocate
Moravians will mark music heritage Sunday
The Sturgeon Bay Moravian church will celebrate Moravian Music Sunday Feb. 29 with the theme “For God and Heritage in Song.” The service will begin at 10:30 am.
Early American hymns will be sung, a liturgy on Moravian Music Heritage will be read and music written by early American Moravian composers will be performed. Rev. Gary Straughan read a statement “For God and Country.”
The choir, under the direction of Mrs. Frank Ullsperger, will sing “It is A Precious Thing” by Johann F. Peter with soloists Marilyn Sorenson and Roger Crass, and “Hearken! Stay Close To Jesus Christ” by David M. Michael with solo introduction by Crass.
A duet “Lord, In Thy Presence” by Christian Gregor will be sung by Mrs. Frank Schonewolf and Mrs. Charles Sorenson. A Johann C. Geisler anthem “This Is The Day That The Lord Created” will be played as an oboe solo by Cory Kemp.
The prelude and postlude will be compositions by the early American composers John Herbst and John Antes.
The Moravian Musical Heritage dates back to John Hus (1369-1415) who wrote hymns to involve the congregation in singing in church services. The Moravians had the first hymnal written in their language in 1501 and singing has been an important part of the church services ever since.
Moravians brought to new country
The following was cut from the Moravian Music Sunday story last week but the editor thought it was too good not to run.
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When the Moravians came to America in the 1730’s they brought with them their manuscripts, musical traditions and genuine love of songs. In the 1740’s Count Zinzendorf established a college of music at Bethlehem, Pa., where numerous scores of Haydn, Handel, and Bach were hand copied and where Moravians learned to create their own scores.
To early Moravian musicians church music was the most profound and genuine expression of their inner lives. Many of the Moravian clergymen were musically trained to the point where they could write hymns and anthems to fit their sermon theme as easily as they could write their sermons.
Musical instruments were freely used to accompany or to enhance the services. Trombones and trumpets played hymns in the church belfry towers which echoed in the hills and valleys to call people to their special services.
Moravian music was written for their Lovefeasts, for song-services, and even for birthday gifts.
As part of the Lovefeast celebration of the end of the Revolutionary War (the first known organized observance of the Fourth of July, 1783), Cantata by Johann F. Peter, “Psalm of Joy,” was performed.
As 19th Century musical culture trends were absorbed by early American Moravians the works of John Antes, John F. Peter, Johannes Herbst, David Michael, Christian LaTrobe, Christian Gregor and other prominent composers of the 18th Century were carefully tucked away in libraries, stored in church closets, attics or basements, and in the archives in Bethlehem, Pa., and Winston Salem, N.C.
Largely through the efforts of the late Dr. Thor Johnson these manuscripts were dusted off, the hand-written music studied by musicologists and made ready to print to be brought back to life again.
Thor, son of a minister and devoted church member, felt it was a privilege and responsibility of the Moravian Church to share this music with the world for enrichment of the spiritual life of all churches.
As a means to expose this music which had remained dormant since the 18th Century Thor organized and directed eleven Early American Music Festivals, the first being held in Bethlehem in 1950, others held in Winston Salem, N.C., Dover, Ohio, New York City, and his last one held at DePere in 1974.
Musicologists became interested in the role of Moravians in cultural history of America and helped Thor dig in the archives for new music to be introduced at each Festival. This led to the establishment of the Moravian Musical Foundation in Winston Salem, N.C., which now has thousands of Moravian scores cataloged and is the center for study of all aspects of musical life in America.
Moravian composers left a remarkable body of music for their descendants to enjoy and learn from. Through the work of the Moravian Music Foundation many of the finest examples of this music are now widely known in America today and the anthems, in particular, have found their way into the many other denominations.
Articles courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Lyrics to “It is A Precious Thing”: https://baroque.boston/moravian-music-texts-translation
Video: https://youtu.be/-RUC9ilQNEo
This recording of a Thor Johnson performance which includes both “It is A Precious Thing” and “Hearken! Stay Close To Jesus Christ”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKkuQVISxY4
A different translation of “Lord, In Thy Presence”: https://www.youtube.com/live/TreUDQgPZDA?feature=shared&t=4999
Text: https://hymnary.org/hymn/Mor1995/447 ]
Articles relating to churches:
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Articles relating to music:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/music