In Spring 1783, as negotiations proceeded between the former American colonies and its defeated enemy Britain toward the signing of the Treaty of Paris later in the year, North Carolina Governor Alexander Martin issued an order to all state residents to mark the onset of peace with ceremonies of thanksgiving, and do it on the Fourth of July, in recognition of the Declaration of Independence, signed 12 years earlier.
It took awhile for word to reach throughout the state, and only a few weeks before July Fourth, the governor’s order was received in Salem, the settlement of the Unitas Fratrum. This was a center in the Americas—along with Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, for the religious community also known as Moravians, from the area in Europe where they had concentrated decades after their founding in Bohemia in the mid-1400s as a Protestant Christian movement.
The Salem leaders, led by Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) scrambled and put together a day-long event of beautiful music, and also good food, as a Dankfest, or Thanksgiving for Peace. Calling the program the “Psalm of Joy,” they can rightly claim credit for holding the first “organized” Fourth of July celebration in the entire new nation. Researchers reassembled the program in the 1970s. The Moravian Music Foundation, in Winston-Salem, generously makes this and other historic music available.
In May this year in North Carolina, the Moravians once again presented the entire Psalm of Joy, inviting community singers and musicians to join them.
On June 27 In Virginia, one signature piece of the Psalm of Joy will be performed by the Schiller Institute Virginia Chorus and community friends, at a concert of the Leesburg Chamber Players.
The German-speaking Moravians were renowned for their construction and use of musical instruments, and daily and special music-making, in particular for trombone choirs. They were a transmission belt for Bach, Handel and other composers. Three definitive Haydn manuscripts were found in their early files. Both Ben Franklin and George Washington visited their communities, with praise. The Bethlehem Bach Festival is world-renowned to this day.
The “Psalm of Joy” features more than 15 elements, including anthems, duets and solos, and parts for multiple choruses, both specially composed pieces, and borrowings from known beloved songs. For example, it features the “Passion Chorale,” with different words, giving thanks for peace.
