Cantata for Baritone Solo, Chorus, and Orchestra
1992
Piano/Vocal Score

Charles Fussell (b. 1938)

Full Biographical Information may be found in the Finding Aid for the Charles Fussell Collection at MMF.

Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813)

Text: Psalm 37:4; hymn

Edited by Ryan Malone

SSAB choir
piano/organ

Instrumental parts (opt.) available:
2 flutes, strings
Organ part in a lower key, available.

$1.75

MMFS1504

Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) was born in Heerendijk, Holland, to German Moravian parents. He was educated in Holland and Germany, and, with his brother Simon, came to America in 1770. Peter appears to have begun composing very shortly after his arrival in the new world. He served the Pennsylvania Moravians in Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Lititz, and was sent to Salem, NC, in 1780. There, among other duties, he assumed the position of music director for the community. Under Peter’s energetic and capable leadership a musical tradition was established in Salem which benefited the community long after his departure in 1790. He afterwards served Moravians in Graceham, MD; Hope, NJ; and Bethlehem, PA. J. F. Peter’s many works have earned him the reputation of being the most gifted of Moravian composers in America. His six string quintets, written in Salem and dated 1789, are the earliest known chamber music written in this country. He died in Bethlehem on July 13, 1813, almost literally at the organ bench, shortly after playing for a children’s service.

Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813)

Text: Isaiah 66:13-14

SSAB choir
piano/organ

Instrumental parts (opt.) available:
2 flutes, 2 horns, strings
Organ part in a lower key, available.

$1.95

MMFS1107

Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) was born in Heerendijk, Holland, to German Moravian parents. He was educated in Holland and Germany, and, with his brother Simon, came to America in 1770. Peter appears to have begun composing very shortly after his arrival in the new world. He served the Pennsylvania Moravians in Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Lititz, and was sent to Salem, NC, in 1780. There, among other duties, he assumed the position of music director for the community. He afterwards served Moravians in Graceham, MD; Hope, NJ; and Bethlehem, PA. J. F. Peter’s many works have earned him the reputation of being the most gifted of Moravian composers in America. His six string quintets, written in Salem and dated 1789, are the earliest known chamber music written in this country. He died in Bethlehem on July 13, 1813, shortly after playing for a children’s service.

Hagen, Francis Florentine
(1815-1907)

Text: Hebrews 12:22-24

Edited by D. Keneth Fowler
from manuscripts in the Salem Congregation Collection

SATB
organ or piano

(flute, strings available)

MMFS0901

Francis Florentine Hagen (1815-1907) was born and grew up in Salem, North Carolina, and received theological training at the Moravian Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Though he was always devoted to music, he, like so many other Moravian composers, spent his professional life first as a teacher and then as pastor of several congregations. His musical style reflects eighteenth century Moravian roots blended with influences of later Romanticism. His compositions include anthems, an orchestral overture, solo songs, solo piano works, and both original compositions and arrangements for organ, many of which were published during his lifetime. He died at Lititz, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 1907.

Nola Reed Knouse

Text: O Perfect Love by Dorothy Frances Gurney,
Christian Hearts in Love United by Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf

two-part choir with accompaniment and flute or violin or other C instrument.

Suitable for any occasion, esp. for wedding or anniversary

MMFS1903

Brian Henkelmann (2012)

Text: Brian Henkelmann
James T. Benade (1789), adapted

SATB choir, congregation, organ, opt. handbells and brass quartet.

MMFS1904

Johann Christian Geisler (1729-1815)
SATB choir
with organ/piano

Text: I Corinthians 6:17; and an anonymous hymn

Edited by Herman H. Lepzt IV

Translation by Nola Reed Knouse

MMFS1710 

(Note: accompaniment part, in a lower key, is always available upon request, making the soprano range more accessible without the bass becoming too low. Pitch, at the time of this composition, was A=413.)

Johann Christian Geisler (1729-1815) was born in Toppliwoda, Silesia and learned to play the organ and harp at an early age. At sixteen he was instrumental in starting a trombone choir for the Gnadenfrei congregation in Silesia. He knew Gregor and other leading Moravian musicians of the period, and may have been a teacher of Johannes Herbst. His first wife was a harpist, and it is perhaps no accident that thirteen of his anthems utilize that instrument. Geisler served as minister to several congregations in Europe and became a member of the Unity Elders Conference, the Moravian Church’s chief governing board. He began to compose in 1760, and by 1805 had written approximately 300 musical works. Although he never visited America, most of his pieces found their way into Moravian collections here. He died in Berthelsdorf, near Herrnhut, on April 14, 1815.

Hagen, Francis Florentine
(1815-1907)

Text: William Hammond

SATB
organ or piano
On one manuscript the second choir is noted: “juvenile”

(flute, strings available)
(Note: accompaniment part, in a lower key, is always available upon request, making the soprano range more accessible without the bass becoming too low. Pitch, at the time of this composition, was A=413.)

Francis Florentine Hagen (1815-1907) was born and grew up in Salem, North Carolina, and received theological training at the Moravian Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Though he was always devoted to music, he, like so many other Moravian composers, spent his professional life first as a teacher and then as pastor of several congregations. His musical style reflects eighteenth century Moravian roots blended with influences of later Romanticism. His compositions include anthems, an orchestral overture, solo songs, solo piano works, and both original compositions and arrangements for organ, many of which were published during his lifetime. He died at Lititz, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 1907.

We Are Members of Christ’s Body
Wir sind Glieder

SSAB choir
organ/piano

David Moritz Michael (1751-1827)

(full score and strings available)

TEXT: Ephesians 5:30, Matthew 25:31-40

MMFS1906

David Moritz Michael (1751-1827) was born in Kühnhausen (near Erfurt in Thuringia), Germany, and did not become a Moravian until he was thirty years old. He taught in the Moravian school at Niesky and came to America in 1795. His official church position was as a worker with the young men of the congregations in Nazareth and Bethlehem, but his contributions to the musical life of the settlements were great. He revitalized the Bethlehem Collegium musicum and conducted the performance of Haydn’s Creation which may have been its American premiere. In addition to his well-known woodwind ensemble pieces, he also composed seventeen anthems for four-part choir, several vocal solos and duets, and an eleven-movement setting of Psalm 103. He returned to Germany in 1815 and died in Neuwied, Germany, on February 26, 1827.

by Johannes Herbst (1735-1812)
Text: Isaiah 53:4,5

SATB choir and organ/piano
originally scored for strings and organ (parts available)

Edited by Nola Reed Knouse

originally scored for strings and organ
manuscript denotes “Great Sabbath of 1775”

MMFS1716