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Moravian Music Foundation

Moravian Music Foundation

Preserving, Sharing, and Celebrating Moravian Musical Culture

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Preserving Moravian Musical Culture

Notes from Nola … The Moravian Music Foundation preserves …

If you’ve been “hanging around” with the Moravian Music Foundation for a little while, surely you’ve heard our mission statement – The Moravian Music Foundation preserves, shares, and celebrates Moravian musical culture. It’s a pretty catchy sentence – with a clear subject, three active verbs, and a pretty broad object of those verbs. Let’s start to explore what we mean.

The Moravian Music Foundation…

First, what is the Moravian Music Foundation (abbreviation: MMF)? It’s a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation. Yes, it’s affiliated with the Moravian Church in North America, both Northern and Southern Provinces; but it’s a separately incorporated entity which receives less than 5% of its annual income from the churches directly. (Keep that in mind; sources of MMF’s support will be the topic of a future post!) It’s governed by a Board of Trustees, made up of the following: 3 appointed by the Provincial Elders’ Conference, Moravian Church Northern Province; 3 appointed by the Provincial Elders’ Conference, Moravian Church Southern Province; 3 appointed by Bethlehem Area Moravians, the collegial body of 6 Moravian congregations in Bethlehem; 3 appointed by the Salem Congregation, the collegial body of 12 Moravian congregations in Winston-Salem; and from 9 to 16 at-large members elected by the board itself. Board members serve a four-year term and are eligible for appointment or election to a second four-year term, after which they rotate off the board for at least a year. (Future posts will tell you more about who our board members are!)

MMF’s main office is in Winston-Salem, NC, sharing the Archie K. Davis Center with the Moravian Archives, Southern Province. Staff members there are yours truly, Director; Erik Salzwedel, Business Manager; Dave Blum, Research Librarian; and Sarah Durham, Office Manager, along with part-time cataloging project people. MMF also has an office in Bethlehem, PA, in the Moravian Archives, Northern Province, staffed by Gwyneth Michel, Assistant Director. (Another future post will tell you more about our staff members!)

 

The Moravian Music Foundation preserves

the many amazing and unique items in our care, including …

  • one of 10 known copies of the first printing of The Star-Spangled Banner, found in one of the bound volumes of 19th-century printed sheet music belonging to individuals and now cared for in our climate-controlled secure facilities.
  • the only-known manuscript copy of the Sinfonia in D Minor by J. C. F. Bach, one of the younger sons of J. S. Bach, copied by Johann Friedrich Peter in 1768, during his seminary training in Germany, and brought to America to be played by the Moravian settlers here. This is now part of the Salem Collegium Musicum collection, the music enjoyed by the musicians of the community in the 18th and 19th century.
  • the Irving Lowens Collection of American tunebooks, made up of several thousand published books from the 18th and 19th centuries. These books contain sacred songs and hymns, many also including the rudiments of music. Many are in shape-note notation; some are quite rare.
  • several hundred hymnals primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, mostly Moravian but many of other denominations; these include hymnals in many different languages. Most are text-only. Among the specific treasures are early Moravian hymnals from 1544 (in German and printed with tunes; 1615 (in Czech, also printed with tunes; this large book also includes scripture references and a chart of hymns recommended for specific Sundays in the church year); a 1618 smaller reprint of the 1615, with the tunes, but without the scripture references; and Moravian composer Johannes Herbst’s personal copy of the German hymnal of 1778, with notations in his hand indicating the authors of many of the hymns and also noting translations into English.

Preserving, then, is about keeping things, and keeping them safe. It’s about climate-controlled facilities, so that these precious treasures are kept safe from the ravages of temperature and humidity swings; safe from pests of various kinds; secure from damage or even theft. It’s about securing the “intellectual content” of those things – hence the major project, 20 years ago, to microfilm all the archival music, that housed in Bethlehem and that housed in Winston-Salem, so that in case of a major losses or damage to the original manuscripts, the music itself wouldn’t be lost. (Use copies of the microfilm are in Bethlehem, Winston-Salem, and Herrnhut in Germany.)

But preserving is about more than just keeping things. We also seek to preserve the understanding, the context, in which these materials were created and used. Preservation, thus, might be seen to include interpretation – so many 18th-century Moravian hymns have a great many verses! It’s important to understand that they didn’t sing all the verses of all the hymns; thus talking about the tradition of the Singstunde is part of “preserving”. Learning and explaining how the anthems were used in worship is part of “preserving”.

And making these materials known is also part of preserving. It’s not enough to keep things. Having things means little if their existence is not “discoverable.” You have to know where things are, and people from outside the organization need to know they exist. So “preserving” includes cataloging. Hence – GemeinKat, the multi-year project to convert our paper catalog to online records. Set aside some time, have your favorite beverage to hand, and check out https://moravianmusic.org/gemeinkat-catalog/ . Happy exploring!

Next time? The Moravian Music Foundation shares …

Musically yours,

– Nola

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WINSTON-SALEM OFFICE at the ARCHIE K. DAVIS CENTER

457 South Church St.
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Phone: (336) 725-0651
Email: info@moravianmusic.org

BETHLEHEM OFFICE at the MORAVIAN ARCHIVES

41 West Locust St
Bethlehem, PA 18018

Phone: (610) 866-3340

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Copyright © 2022 The Signal Company. All rights reserved. Return to top
Christopher Ogburn

Growing up in the Moravian Church, I learned the value of the church and the importance of its long and remarkable history, both locally, but also internationally. My own family lineage can be traced back to the Bethabara settlement, so there is a strong personal connection that draws me to the work of the Moravian Music Foundation and the preservation of its remarkable archival collection. While an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I had the privilege of interning one summer at the Foundation under Nola Reed Knouse. This opportunity solidified my passion for musicology and is what ultimately inspired my pursuit of a doctorate in that area. In many ways, I owe my career to the Foundation and consider this opportunity to be both a literal and spiritual homecoming.

Looking to the future, I am excited by all the possibilities, including expanding the lecture series, building a more robust online presence, providing live music performances, creating workshops for local students, and working to tell the global story of the Moravian Church more completely and accurately.

My family has deep ties to the area that go back several generations. My wife, Erin, and I are excited to be moving back to Winston-Salem and to raise our daughter, June, in this community that played such a vital role in shaping who I am today. We are looking forward to exploring all the new restaurants, hiking around Pilot Mountain, and enjoying the vibrant cultural community that has grown over the years. After having lived in New York City for the bulk of our adult lives, we are delighted to be back in the land of BBQ, Cheerwine, and the Heels.  -Chris Ogburn

Bruce Earnest

What an honor it is for me to join the Moravian Music Foundation. I look forward to working with the board, staff, and community as we  plan for the next 66 years. The mission and vision of the Moravian Music Foundation is as important now and for the future as it was at inception 66 years ago. I am grateful to be leading an organization that is respected throughout the globe for its collection and significance, due to Dr. Knouse and the team. As my wife and family transition to the beautiful city of Winston-Salem, we ask for your prayers and look forward to meeting each of you very soon!    -Bruce Earnest

Psalm 99:5

Timeline of the Transition

The current plan (subject to change and adjustments, of course) is shared here, and will be updated.

The Plan

1. Nola and Gwyn will retire, effective the end of August, 2022.

2. The Board conducted a search and accepted many applications for Executive Director.

3.Finalists have been interviewed, given presentations, and considered by the Board.

4. A new Executive Director will be named in early summer and will be in place by late summer, 2022.

5. An interim Asst. Director will be hired by summer and will overlap with the current Asst. Director in Bethlehem.
This position will be 2-days a week to finish out the 2022 calendar year, while the new Director considers applicants for the Bethlehem position.

6. Watch for further developments.

Other resources at MMF:

  • Reference library: the Peter Memorial Library in Winston-Salem
  • Irving Lowens Collection of early American tunebooks and songbooks, in Winston-Salem
  • An extensive international collection of hymnals (mostly Moravian) in many languages, dating to the 16th century, in Winston-Salem

 
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ArchivGrid

ArchiveGrid                         LINK

This is a collection of over 7,000,000 archival descriptions, including documents, personal papers, family histories, and other archival materials held in about 1,500 archival institutions. ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials, but who may not know exactly where to go to find them. MMF’s finding aids can be discovered through ArchiveGrid. For an example, go to https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/help/; type in the search box (upper right) “Bethlehem congregation” and the first thing you will find is MMF’s finding aid for the Bethlehem Congregation Collection, and also related collections and suggested search terms (Lancaster, Dover, Lititz, etc.), linked to those finding aids on the MMF website.

Finding Aids

Individual Finding Aids       LINK

Guide: Arranged by Collection          LINK

The archival holdings of MMF are divided into collections. (some in Bethlehem, some in Winston-Salem)

The finding aid for each collection is a “30,000-foot view” of the collection in its context. Each finding aid contains information about the size of the collection, how it was created, history of the community or key individuals involved in the collection, and a description of the contents.

A guide to the MMF collections is available at MoravianMusic.org:

For the individual finding aids, see https://moravianmusic.org/category/finding-aids/
Then, click on any of the titles and read about that collection. When this work is completed, there will be a finding aid for every collection we hold.

RISM

RISM: Répertoire International des Sources Musicales    LINK

RISM, or International Inventory of Musical Sources, is an international, non-profit organization that aims to comprehensively document extant musical sources worldwide: manuscripts, printed music editions, writings on music theory, and libretti that are found in libraries, archives, churches, schools, and private collections.

The RISM Catalog of Musical Sources contains over 1.2 million records and can be searched at no cost. Early western music from 1600 through to the early 19th century is included.    https://rism.info/de/search.html

RISM was founded in Paris in 1952 and is the largest and only global organization that documents written musical sources. RISM records what exists and where it can be found. RISM is where scholars go when they are looking for music manuscripts or early prints around the world. RISM entries include the musical incipits – the first phrase or so of music – to enable identification of a specific piece of music (which setting of “Sing to the Lord a New Song” is this?).

GemeinKat

GemeinKat is the MMF digital catalog on WorldCat.org    LINK

“GemeinKat” is the name given to MMF’s project to upload new and enhanced digital records to the OCLC and RISM databases. We have used the name “GemeinKat” as our umbrella term for the entire project, involving Backstage Library Works, OCLC, WorldCat, and RISM and the work of cataloging; also, the creation of the digital records and the creation of finding aids.

GemeinKat is available to the public, on the internet, at moravianmusic.on.worldcat.org and is a WorldCat Discovery catalog, developed by OCLC, a nonprofit organization that provides services to thousands of libraries worldwide. Through WorldCat, users have the potential to access more than 1.8 billion items in libraries around the world.

GemeinKat itself is: the bibliographic records for each manuscript, book, or printed music item found in MMF holdings.
These archival holdings are grouped by collections and physically reside in either the Bethlehem or Winston-Salem archive (sometimes in both).
For a description, see the MMF website: https://moravianmusic.org/gemeinkat-catalog/.

WorldCat.org: to search the catalog, go to https://moravianmusic.on.worldcat.org/discovery. You can search by composer, title, collection, or any number of other keywords; just go try!

OCLC (Online Computer Library Center): the collective of organization(s) that built the online database called WorldCat. It is now owned by Backstage Library Works.

We are open for business!

…however, we prefer you make an appointment to visit the WINSTON-SALEM office in-person, and follow the guidelines, below.

336-725-0651

We request visitors follow these requirements:

  • Researchers must call or email to make an appointment. Walk-in researchers will not be admitted.
  • There will be a limit of 3 persons in the research room at a time (including MMF and Archives researchers).
  • Masks required for ALL.
  • Researchers are required to bring their own writing materials (pencils & paper).

 

For shopping, when convenient, please order items on the MMF website. We can leave them at the door for pick-up or ship to you.

For anthem and lending library requests, research inquiries, and other inquiries,
you are welcome to send an email to info@moravianmusic.org or sales@moravianmusic.org
or, for research, dave@moravianmusic.org
or directly to any of the staff, using this pattern: [first name]@moravianmusic.org

We Are Open for Business!

…however, you must make an appointment to visit the BETHLEHEM office in-person. Masks, distancing, and limits of occupancy are mandated.  

610-866-3340

For shopping, when convenient, please order items on the MMF website. We can leave them at the door for pick-up or ship to you.

For anthem and lending library requests, research inquiries, and other inquiries,
you are welcome to send an email to info@moravianmusic.org or sales@moravianmusic.org or
directly to any of the staff, using this pattern: [first name]@moravianmusic.org

A recent inquiry to MMF - Subject: Copyright/Streaming

 

Dear MMF,

I have a question about copyright and streaming. We have CCLI license and streaming license at my church, but it does not cover many pieces for organ. Would the ASCAP license provide that protection for us to stream and include copyrighted organ music? I’ve read their website, and it seems like it would.  https://www.ascap.com/music-users/types/church-or-ministry

Thanks!

____________________________________________________

Dear Worship Leader,

We have been instructing folks to follow CCLI and OneLicense guidelines, which, as you discovered, unfortunately, rarely cover instrumental/keyboard music.

Yes, it appears as though ASCAP offers a “WorshipCast” streaming license, which is set up in much the same manner as CCLI and OneLicense licenses – i.e., the fee structure is based on worship attendance:

https://apps.christiancopyrightsolutions.com/purchase-license.aspx?svc=wc

A quick click brought up this fee structure:
1 – 199 (in attendance): $284.00
200 – 499 (in attendance): $424.00 (obviously it goes up from here)

Some further good news – the WorshipCast license offered above is controlled by Christian Copyright Solutions (a division of CCLI, and it appears as though purchase of this license would allow you to broadcast both ASCAP and BMI titles, opening up even more possibilities.

I don’t think, however, that this license includes SESAC titles; thus, if you wished to perform anything under the SESAC umbrella (Dan Gawthrop, for instance), you would need to approach that entity directly for a license:

https://www.sesac.com/#!/

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Blessings to you in your music ministry!

Gwyneth Michel, Assistant Director, Moravian Music Foundation      – – (with edits by Erik S.)

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Internships at MMF

The Moravian Music Foundation welcomes students for internships.
Both college (or higher) and high school levels may be accommodated.
Some projects require no musical experience; others require ability to read music and understand orchestral scores/parts.

Internship Opportunities

Archie K Davis Center

Construction began on the building in the fall of 1999, and the facility was completed and occupied in July 2001. In September 2001, the building was dedicated as the Archie K. Davis Center. More about the man, the building, and a quick, visual tour of our beautiful home.

The Archie K. Davis Center