On January 20, 1783, the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War and formalizing British recognition of the independence of the United States of America was signed. By April, the Governor of North Carolina, Alexander Martin, informed the State Assembly of the peace agreement. In response, the Assembly instructed the Governor to organize a public thanksgiving, to take place on July 4.
The most enthusiastic response came from the large Moravian Church community in Wachovia, North Carolina.
The Moravians, a Bohemian protestant pacifist church originally from the area of today’s Czech Republic, had fled religious persecution, first establishing a presence in Saxony in 1722, and sending their first missionaries to North America in 1735. The first Moravian mission in North America was established in upstate New York, with the blessings of local Mahican tribal leaders. The next permanent settlement was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
In 1753, the Moravians established another major settlement in North Carolina, on 100,000 acres near Winston-Salem.
The greatest gift that the Moravians brought to North America was music, which played a prominent role in their worship. Sacred music, as well as a wide range of instrumental and choral music, was promoted and spread across what became the United States.[i] The music of Hayden and Bach, in particular, was transmitted to North America through the Moravians, and many of the earliest American composers were Moravians:
- Jeremiah Dencke (1725-1795)
- John Antes (1740-1811)
- Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1795)
- David Moritz Michael (1751-1827)
The Moravian Boy’s School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was one of the first schools of classical composition, choral and orchestral training in North America, producing both worship and artistic music in the European Baroque tradition. John Antes, one of the most prolific of the early American Moravian composers, was also one of the earliest musical instrument makers, producing violins, flutes, and some newly invented instruments. In 1779, Antes sent copies of the first known string quartets and string trios composed in North America to Benjamin Franklin, whom he had met in 1763.
The Moravians, a pacifist sect, celebrated the end of the Seven Years War and the return of peace in Europe and North America with an outpouring of new musical compositions. Antes and the other Moravian composers in Pennsylvania and North Carolina extended that tradition 20 years later at the news of the signing of the Treaty of Paris formally ending the American Revolution.
The first Fourth of July celebration in America did indeed take place in North Carolina on July 4, 1783. The Moravian community in Wachovia led the celebration with a day of music, worship, and food. The Moravian watchword was: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love.”
The Salem, North Carolina Diary for July 4, 1783, described the Wachovia peace celebration:
“According to the order of the Government of this State, we celebrated a day of thanksgiving for the restoration of peace. The congregation was awakened by the trombonists. At the beginning of the preaching service, the Te Deum was sung… At two-o-clock there was a happy Lovefest, during which a Psalm of Joy was sung with thankful hearts… In the evening the congregation again assembled in the Saal and the choir sang… Then the congregation formed a circle in front of the Gemein Haus, and from there passed in procession through the main street of town, with music and the antiphonal song of two choirs… Hearts were filled with the peace of God, evident during the entire day and especially during the procession, and all around there was silence, even the wind being still.”
The Moravian community had only learned of the Governor’s proclamation in late June, and therefore performed music already composed, including the Psalm of Joy cantata, which had been composed by Johnann Friedrich Peter to commemorate the end of the Seven Years War. One of the hymn-tunes used for the Psalm of Joy was the traditional “Passion Chorale,” used by J.S. Bach in his St. Matthew and St. John Passions. Peter’s text (as translated), is:
“O rest that softly cometh, so gracious and so blest; we hail it with rejoicing, for we in peace may rest. Redeemed from present sorrow, and trusting for tomorrow, secure from every foe, thy flock may come and go.”
[i] Background material on Moravian music is available at the website of the Moravian Music Foundation.
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Tags: Classical music, Moravians
