The Moravian musical heritage forms a vital link
in the history of American music and culture.
SUMMARY
The Moravian Music Foundation (MMF)
is custodian of some 10,000 manuscripts and early imprints, which comprise music by both Moravian and non-Moravian composers; sacred and secular; American and European; vocal and instrumental.
MMF has an extensive music reference library and publishes books about Moravian music.
MMF sells modern editions of anthems and instrumental music, publishes new compositions, and produces recordings.
Approximately one-third of the archival holdings is housed at the
Archie K Davis Center, 457 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, NC;
two-thirds of the archival holdings reside in the
Moravian Archives, Northern Province, 41 W. Locust St., Bethlehem, PA.
HISTORY AND WORK OF THE FOUNDATION
The Moravian Music Foundation (MMF) was founded and chartered in the state of North Carolina in 1956 by a group of clergy and laity of the Moravian Church, to preserve, study, edit and publish a little-known collection of music (sacred and secular) used in early America. The rediscovery of this music forms a vital link in the history of American music and culture. Since its establishment, MMF has acquired thousands of additional items, including the Irving Lowens Collection of early American tunebooks; the band books of the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, and the entire collection of the works of North Carolina composers Charles G. Vardell and Margaret Vardell Sandresky, and North Carolina-born composer Charles Fussell. MMF is custodian of the George Hamilton IV collection.
MMF preserves Moravian music, as custodian of some 10,000 manuscripts and early imprints, which comprise music both by Moravian and non-Moravian composers; sacred and secular; American and European; vocal and instrumental. Approximately one-third of this collection is housed at the Foundation headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC; the remainder resides in the Moravian Archives, Northern Province in Bethlehem, PA.
Since its inception, hundreds of scholars have used MMF’s resources, including the archival collections of manuscripts, printed music, and books, and the 6000-volume research library, producing many scholarly editions articles, and dissertations. MMF’s resources are open to scholars and students world-wide. At present four doctoral students and several post-doctoral scholars are working on projects using MMF’s holdings.
MMF shares Moravian music. Over 500 musical works have been edited for modern-day performance and an estimated two million copies are in circulation worldwide. MMF self-publishes instrumental music and has published over 100 anthems, both new compositions and edited from the archives, in its Moravian Star Anthem series. Some 40 orchestral works have been edited and placed in the Fleisher Collection of the Philadelphia Free Library, thus becoming available to orchestras nationwide.
MMF manages an extensive Lending Library of choral and instrumental music, with several hundred loans per year; the vast majority of these are loans to churches and schools not affiliated with the Moravian Church.
MMF has an extensive music reference library and sells modern sheet music editions of anthems, instrumental music, band books, as well as books about Moravian music. Many recordings of Moravian music have been produced and released by MMF, or by partners of MMF, and are available for sale at the Winston-Salem and Bethlehem offices.
MMF shares Moravian music with the world, and cultivates research, through its online catalog, GemeinKat, at moravianmusic.on.worldcat.org
MMF celebrates Moravian music through its performing ensembles, Moramus Chorale (NC) and Unitas Chorale (PA), and through partnerships with other artists and ensembles.
MMF celebrates and cultivates Moravian music through events such as the Moravian Music Festival, Unity Brass Festival, and Moravian music weekends like Music on the Mountain at Laurel Ridge, NC Links: *Brass Festival *Music on the Mountain *Music Festival
The Moravian Music Foundation is a tax-exempt organization recognized as such by the Internal Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
