Notes from Nola … The Moravian Music Foundation celebrates …

Continuing my series on the Moravian Music Foundation’s mission statement, what do we mean by “celebrating”?

The Moravian Music Foundation preserves, shares, and celebrates Moravian musical culture.

What do we celebrate in our world? Anniversaries … birthdays … all sorts of special occasions … maybe a new job, or a promotion, or a retirement … all sorts of transitions. Accomplishments of many kinds merit acknowledgment and celebration. And a lot of these include music – from a family singing “happy birthday” to bringing in a dance band.

Celebrating is certainly part of Moravian history and culture. Think of the annual remembrances that are common to all Christian churches – the birth of Christ; the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; ascension; congregational anniversaries. All of these are in our Moravian world, as well as several others. Think of the special Moravian commemorations – the martyrdom of John Hus (July 6); the renewal of the Moravian Church (August 13); the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as the Chief Elder of the Moravian Church (November 13). Special services have been held for these Moravian festivals for many generations, and there is a wealth of hymns and anthems written especially for these days. And many Moravian congregations have special celebrations for groups within the church. Some have a “workers’ lovefeast”, acknowledging the many contributions of members to the life and work of the church throughout the year. The Southern Province has an annual Children’s Festival in August, and music is certainly a part of that every year. Some still celebrate the “choir festivals” – single brothers, single sisters, married people, and so on.

But what, especially, does the Moravian Music Foundation do to “celebrate Moravian musical culture?” Our “celebration” work covers a lot of activites. Some of these are …

• holding Moravian Music Festivals every four years. (Note: Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the 2021 Festival was held online with a Part II set for July 26, 2022 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). Watch for updates, and plan to come …
• holding Moravian Music Weekends. We’ve now hosted 8 of these at Laurel Ridge Camp, Conference, and Retreat Center in the mountains of North Carolina, and we’d love to hold these at other locations as well. Interested in one in your area? Let’s talk about how to make it happen.
• sponsoring the Unitas Chorale in Pennsylvania and the Moramus Chorale in North Carolina. These two groups of singers rehearse and perform Moravian music and other music complementary to it – perhaps music by composers the Moravians knew and loved, or music written on Moravian tunes or texts. Both groups welcome new singers at any time, and our office can put you in touch with the directors (Gwyn Michel with the Unitas Chorale and Drake Flynt with the Moramus Chorale).
• providing music and programming assistance for other groups wanting to perform music from our collections. Many professional and amateur musical groups (and individual performers) contact our office each year asking about music, and we help by suggesting music to fit their programming wishes, their available musicians, and so on. We make the Lending Libraries available to all who contact us (a future post will say more!), or we sell our own publications. We’re happy to provide background information and program notes.
• helping Moravian congregations celebrate special occasions – providing music and liturgy suggestions for the services of dedication (or re-dedication) of or a building; for a special anniversary; for a vacation Bible school; for a children’s hand chimes group; for almost anything a congregation wants to celebrate with music!
• helping congregations, Moravian and many other denominations, who want to hold a Moravian lovefeast or candle service. We can send music suggestions, practical ideas for how to hold it, information about obtaining candles or lovefeast buns, suggested orders of worship, and so on.

When you think of celebrating, then, you may already think of music. And we hope that as your congregation or organization thinks of future celebrations, you’ll remember that the Moravian Music Foundation is here to help with music suggestions for almost any occasion!

Next time? The Music Lending Libraries managed by the Moravian Music Foundation – What’s in them, who uses them, and how can you use them?

Musically yours,

– Nola

PLEASE NOTE:
For your convenience and our preparation…
…for research projects or consultations, please call ahead to schedule a meeting.
MMF continues to conduct most business online and by email – ALL products and resources and services are available. While we now have staff physically present at MMF offices, please call or email ahead to discern the latest protocols and make an appointment or plan a visit.

Is your congregation planning to re-gather in person?

PAST and EXPIRED NOTICES, Below

guidance for churches and agencies and individual members:

From David Guthrie and the Provincial Elders’ Conference (Southern):

Monday, Aug 3 – UPDATES

MMF will continue to conduct business online and by email, although we will have limited staff physically present at MMF offices on an increasing basis, but with a limited schedule.
Please call or email ahead to make appointments.

August – CLICK for North Carolina Guidance

August – CLICK for Pennsylvania Guidance

Wednesday, July 1 – UPDATES

MMF will continue to conduct business online and by email, although we will have limited staff physically present at MMF offices on an increasing basis, but with a limited schedule.
Please call or email ahead to make appointments.

July 1 – CLICK for North Carolina Guidance

July 1 – CLICK for Pennsylvania Guidance

Pennsylvania is in Yellow Phase

MMF staff will be onsite at the Bethlehem MMF office on a limited basis; the building will remain closed to the public until Northampton County (PA) is permitted to enter the “Green” Phase. At that time, the Archives and MMF will continue to limit the total number of people in the building. Please call 610-866-3340 or email to make appointments. gwyn@moravianmusic.org

North Carolina is in Phase Two

MMF will continue to conduct business online and by email, with a limited schedule in the Winston-Salem MMF offices. The Archives is also on a limited schedule. Please call 336-725-0651 or email info@moravianmusic.org

https://www.nc.gov/covid-19/staying-ahead-curve

“All businesses in North Carolina are strongly encouraged to continue directing employees to telework, if possible. Additionally, non-essential travel and in-person meetings should be avoided.”

– North Carolina Phase 2 Guidelines

Pennsylvania Guidance for Businesses

Pennsylvania Work & Congregate Setting Restrictions:

• Telework Must Continue Where Feasible
• All must wear face-coverings in public
• Businesses Must Follow Business and Building Safety Orders“

June 10 Winston-Salem Journal Health Report on Forsyth County (NC) includes:

• A record number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Forsyth Co.
• Forsyth’s rate of infection & hospitalizations have risen steadily since mid-May (we entered Phase 2 on May 22)
• Forsyth’s infection rate per 100,000 people is higher than the state’s, and has been so since May 18
• 90 new cases were identified in Forsyth County, yesterday

And in other reports

• NC is one of 9 states where hospitalizations have increased since the Memorial Day holiday (Washington Post)
• NC is one of 14 states that have experienced their highest 7-day average of new cases (The Guardian)
• Healthline and the New York Times also show NC as among the states with increasing case count and rate – more than can be accounted for just by increased testing

Staying in touch,
while keeping our distance…

Physically distant, socially connected.

The effects of the pandemic on music and worship:

Further guidance by the PEC of the Moravian Church, Southern Province:

Tuesday, May 19 & Friday, May 22 UPDATES

MMF will continue to conduct business online and by email, although we may begin to be physically present at the Winston-Salem MMF offices on an increasing basis. The PA office remains closed.

Covid-19 Considerations for the Foundation, as a business:

Following CDC guidance, both NC and PA are continuing restrictions on groups and businesses. NC is entering Phase Two of a loosening of restrictions with more businesses opening, with guidelines and limitations.

Under Phase Two, restaurants and bars would be allowed to serve a limited number of on-site customers, and entertainment venues could reopen with reduced capacity. More people would be allowed to gather publicly, and playgrounds could reopen. (Raleigh News & Observer)

The number of new daily cases continues to climb in North Carolina but other key trends, such as hospitalizations and the percentage of positive tests, have remained steady or are falling.
Read more (Raleigh News & Observer)

Thursday, March 26 UPDATE

Following CDC guidance, both NC and PA are increasing restrictions on groups and businesses in an effort to limit the spread of Covid-19 virus, so we will not be physically present at the Winston-Salem MMF offices after 4:30pm Friday, 3/27/20. more info

HOWEVER, WE WILL BE WORKING, ACCEPTING INQUIRIES, REQUESTS AND ORDERS PLACED ONLINE OR BY EMAIL

We will have remote connectivity and will be
happy to communicate through emails:

info@moravianmusic.org
sales@moravianmusic.org

or directly to each staff member’s contact info

THE BETHLEHEM OFFICE IS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

THE WINSTON-SALEM OFFICE IS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS AFTER FRIDAY, 4:30PM 3/27/20

Monday, March 23, 2020 INFORMATION

Interprovincial Board of Communication (IBOC) is working with MMF to provide resources for churches moving to livestream-at-home worship services. We recorded some music just this week!
Please visit moravianmusic.org and moravian.org for links, as these unique resources become available.

The Board of Cooperative Ministries (BCM) is offering a range of resources. Click on “Covid-19” for electronic and other special resources for this time.

During this time of no rehearsals nor concerts, enjoy new Moravian music and instructional videos on MMF’s YouTube Channel. (we’ve been busy!)

Abundant topics of interest are also provided throughout the website, but especially at NOTES FROM NOLA and GEMEINKAT: KEEPING TRACK OF THE DETAILS.

Moravian Music and Educational Vids on YouTube

Monday, March 16, 2020

On Saturday, March 14, 2020, North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, issued an executive order prohibiting all gatherings of over 100 people, to reduce the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). In light of this recommendation, Moravian Music Foundation (MMF), will postpone and reschedule some upcoming events and performances. As new dates are confirmed, the MMF will make public announcements and post them here, on the website, and on Facebook.

The Archives in Bethlehem is closed for the remainder of March, so MMF’s Northern Province office phone will not be active. The staff of MMF is available by phone and email using the contacts on our STAFF page.

For now, the Winston-Salem office is open, but we encourage visitors to call to discuss needs and requests and to order products online. We will be happy to reduce shipping costs, if that is a deterrent, and will institute an easy pick-up policy with “safe distancing,” i.e, products ordered may be picked up from the southwest porch of the Archie K Davis Center, behind Cedarhyrst (Provincial offices) in Old Salem.

We are in dialogue with the Interprovincial Board of Communication (IBOC) and the Board of Cooperative Ministries (BCM) to provide resources for churches moving to livestream-at-home worship services. Please visit moravianmusic.org and moravian.org for links as these unique resources become available.

While lectures, workshops, concerts are on hold, please visit the VIDEO page to view concerts and lectures. Abundant topics of interest are also provided throughout the website, but especially at NOTES FROM NOLA and GEMEINKAT: KEEPING TRACK OF THE DETAILS.

Lastly, MMF is planning a virtual meeting(s) in March to replace the biennial Board of Trustees spring meeting in Bethlehem, PA.

Peace and blessings to those on the front lines, those at risk, infirmed, isolated, or separated from loved ones.

Please let us know how we may help.

Moravian Music Concert
Beethoven in Bethlehem

Friday, April 23, 2021
1:00pm (US; EDT); 17:00 UTC

Trio for Strings No. 2 in D minor …… Moravian composer John Antes (1740-1811)
the first chamber music composed by an American; composed while Antes was a missionary in Egypt
 
Symphony No. 4 in Bb major ………….. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
arranged for chamber ensemble by Johann Nepomuk Hummel
for piano with accompaniment by flute, violin, and cello

This concert honors the 250th birthday of Beethoven by using a major work found in the Philharmonic Society of Bethlehem collection!

Conference Website

This concert was sponsored by the Moravian Music Foundation.

Register at www.MoravianConferences.org and you will receive the link to the concert and to all the sessions. You may also make a donation to help the conference offset its expenses!

While the conference features many scholarly presentations of new research, most will also be of interest to the “non-scholar” who just loves history or music, and the conference attendees always include both academic and non-academic listeners.

Schedule and Events are Subject to Change

Registration for the conference and more details and updates are at

http://www.MoravianConferences.org.

INFORMATION FROM PREVIOUS CONFERENCES:
NOT APPLICABLE FOR 2021 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

There are special rates for students and seniors. The Conference Banquet on Saturday evening requires a separate ticket; and bagged lunches for Friday and Saturday may also be purchased in advance, during the registration process.

Schedule and Events are Subject to Change

Conference tickets include all lectures, presentations, panels and performances; an opening reception on Thursday; and a concert presented by the Moravian Music Foundation on Friday evening; the Moses Lecture in Moravian Studies on Thursday and the Moravian Historical Society Lecture and Reception on Saturday.

Schedule and Events are Subject to Change

There will be so many events that the hardest part will be making your choices – concurrent sessions mean you can’t actually hear every single presentation of the conference! Look at the conference schedule online when you go to register, and start thinking about what you most want to hear. It promises to be a wonderful few days of listening, conversation, and learning!

The Bethlehem Conference on Moravian History and Music actually has its origins with the first Bethlehem Conference on Moravian Music that took place in 1995, focusing on the contributions of organ-builder David Tannenberg. This conference was such a success that another was held two years later, and another, and then it was decided to expand it into a joint conference on Moravian history and music every two years in the fall. This 7th such joint conference will explore Moravian history and music from the 15^th to the 21^st centuries, in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

We hope to see you in Bethlehem!

A message of hope and assurance for these uncertain times. Rev. Nola Reed Knouse, Ph.D., Director of the Moravian Music Foundation. Please support the mission of MMF to preserve, share and celebrate Moravian musical culture.

Considerations for musicians and worship leaders (5/21/20):

Notes from Nola … The Moravian Music Foundation shares …

Continuing my series on the Moravian Music Foundation’s mission statement, what do we mean by “sharing”?

The Moravian Music Foundation preserves, shares, and celebrates Moravian musical culture.

Possession is, I think, a human instinct. When there’s something we like, we want to keep it, to own it, to know we can have access to it at any time. Possessing can be a good thing – I for one am very glad to possess a very fine flute – but it can also be mismanaged – think of a hoarding situation.

Do you remember learning to share as a child? or trying to teach your children to share? It’s not always easy! But with maturity, at our best, when we have something we like a lot, something we’re very proud of, we don’t want to keep it all to ourselves. We want others to enjoy that really cool thing. (I’ve enjoyed seeing talented students play my flute and enjoy its beauty.)

So along with the Moravian Music Foundation’s responsibility to preserve Moravian musical culture comes our delight and our obligation to share that wonderful heritage. We don’t want to keep it to ourselves; it’s much more fun to see other people light up with joy as they experience the breadth and depth and richness of Moravian music.

“Sharing”, then, is whatever we do that helps other people know and enjoy what we enjoy. To “share” a musical culture means to make its fruits available to others. That can happen through …

• Producing recordings (we’ve recently released Harmonious to Dwell, our fourth compact disc recording of the Moravian Lower Brass!)
• Writing and releasing publications: the Moravian Star Anthem Series, the new Moravian songbook Sing to the Lord a New Song, Moravian music for organ or for piano, a forthcoming set of three Moravian handbell pieces; publications of books and booklets on many topics relating to our music life
• Offering workshops and events: maybe you want to try your hand at writing a hymn. Maybe you want to have a chance to read through a whole set of Moravian anthems just to pick new ones for your choir to enjoy.
• Publishing the free Newsletter of the Moravian Music Foundation, and our monthly email newsletter, to help you know what’s going on
• Providing videos of concerts and lectures on our website, so you can enjoy these events from wherever you live
• Telling our story online through social media and our active website (www.MoravianMusic.org)
• Providing detailed program notes for concerts (whether or not we are the sponsor of the concert!) and “liner notes” for our recordings, so you can learn more about the composers and their music

So there’s a lot to this “sharing” verb. As we’ve noted, it’s no good having something great if you’re the only one who knows about it! And “sharing” is something you can do, too – tell your Moravian music story to others! Share the link to these blog posts with them. Call us up and invite us to come to your location with a workshop or reading session or other event.

It’s more fun if we do it together.

Next time? The Moravian Music Foundation celebrates …

Musically yours,

– Nola

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 19^th-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 18^th and 19^th century.
• the Irving Lowens Collection of American tunebooks, made up of several thousand published books from the 18^th and 19^th 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 18^th and 19^th 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 18^th-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

Call for Research Papers by APRIL 1
and other presenters
for the 7th Bethlehem Conference on Moravian History & Music in 2020

The 2020 conference will explore Moravian history and music from the fifteenth to twenty-first centuries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Rev. Dr. Riddick Weber, Chair  
weberr2@moravian.edu

https://www.moravianconferences.org/

Now accepting proposals for individual papers, panels or lecture recitals on any topic related to Moravian history and music.

Please submit a proposal of 300 words or less, accompanied by CV, by April 1, 2020. The program committee will notify accepted applicants by May 15, 2020. A limited number of grants for housing and travel costs are available. We encourage submissions from undergraduate students for whom there may be special panels and poster sessions.

The conference is sponsored by Moravian Archives, Moravian College, and Center for Moravian Studies, in partnership with Moravian Music Foundation, Moravian Theological Seminary, and Moravian Historical Society.

A Timeline of Moravian Music

The Rev. Nola R. Knouse, Ph.D., lecturer
Recorded on Jan. 9, 2020

Singstunde, Nov. 11, 2019

Unity Moravian Church, Lewisville, NC

by Nola Reed Knouse

Episode 57, recorded October 10, 2019

The year is 2156. What does Moravian music sound like and what is the Foundation doing to preserve, share and celebrate Moravian musical culture?

Moravian Lunchtime Lectures are held at 12:15, the second Thursday of the month (excluding June-August) at the Archie K. Davis center in Old Salem. The Moravian Music Foundation and Moravian Archives join to share the rich history of the Moravian Church.
The events are free and open to the public.