 the philly sound in 1970s soul music, notable performers including gamble & huff, the o'jays, teddy pendergrass, harold melvin and the delfonics, is well-known, as are jazz legends like nina simone and john coltrane. philadelphia gave to the musical world diverse singers such as mario lanza, dee dee sharp and the trio performing as the golden boys in 2012, frankie avalon, bobby rydell and fabian forte who grew up together in the same philly neighborhood. this city is also the birthplace of american bandstand, and the home of cameo-parkway records and the famed philadelphia orchestra. following the american revolution, philadelphia became especially renowned for musical development and was the home of the esteemed alexander reinagle, john christopher moller, rayner taylor and susannah haswell rowson. reinagle became the most influential figure in philadelphia's musical life, organizing a number of concerts, organizations and musical events. francis hopkinson, a signer of the declaration of independence, was a notable composer of the period. one of his compositions, "my days have been so wondrous free", is well-remembered as the first art song from the united states (though this is disputed); it is, however, lacking in originality and innovation to set it apart from european compositions. during the 19th century, lawrenceville, pennsylvania became the birthplace of stephen foster, easily the most popular american songwriter of the century. ==religious music in the colonial era==  rural pennsylvania in the colonial era was home to religious minorities like the quakers, as well as important moravian and lutheran communities. while the quakers had few musical traditions, protestant churches frequently made extensive use of music in worship j. f. peter emerged from the moravian tradition, while conrad beissel (founder of the ephrata cloister) innovated his own system of harmonic theory. the lutheran traditions of johann sebastian bach, dieterich buxtehude, johann pachelbel and walther were propagated in pennsylvania, and the city of bethlehem remains a center of lutheran musical traditions today. ===mennonites===  the mennonites, followers of menno simons, settled in germantown after emigrating from the german palatinate and switzerland between 1683 and 1748. they were led by willem rittinghuysen (grandfather of astronomer and mathematician david rittenhouse). the mennonites used a hymnbook from schaffhausen, reprinted in germantown in 1742 as der ausbund das ist etliche schÃ¶ne christliche lieder. ===ephrata cloister=== 
Music_of_Pennsylvania Music_of_United_States_subdivisions Pennsylvania_culture