Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-07
BY IRVING LOwENs

tainly music appy last week.
What with the famed Bach
Choir. in existence since 1900.
and a tradition Of making
music that goes back more
than zoe years. one would
think that by 1857 the town
could take its music calmly.
I am delighted to be able to
say that it still can't. In
bethlehem. big music is big
news.
Out-of- towners gathered to
enjoy the five-concert Early
American Moravian Music
Festival and Seminar held in
historic Central Moravian
Church and 'Moravian Col
lege found that June 1880
had been designated Mo-
ravian Music Festival Week
by the City Council.
A special resolution with
warm words of praise for
music, musicians and musi-
cologists had been passed by
the city fathers.
Newsstands sported a spe-
cial issue of the Bethlehem
Globe-Tim containing a
22-page supplement largely
devoted to musical matters.
AS icing on the cake, the
Police Department made ar
rangements to shoe all auto
mobile traffic away from the
place where the concerts
were being held Gust two
blocks from the heart Of the
business district for 30 min
,ltes on q Saturday afternoon
so that the artists could en-
Joy a n6ise-free recording
session.
But'the biggest compliment
to the music-makers was the
overflow audiences.
A Truly Unique Event
These days, summer brings
all kinds of music festivals.
The concertgoer can take his
pick Of anything from jazz to
Jannequin, with excellent
swimming or mountain
climbing thrown in as an
extra.
The Moravian Music Festi-
val does not attract with lush
accommodations, but rather
with the, quality of it's music
and its performances. In one
respect 1t is unique. In no
place can one see so magnifi-
cent a demonstration Of mu-
sociology in the round, so to
speak.
Nowhere else can the audi
tor experience that exhilarat-
ing sense of participation in
an exciting discovery. This
is a festival of finds.
The Moravians who arrived
in the 1740s and settled in
Pennsylvania and North Car
DINA were an exceptionally
musical people. Unlike the
New Englanders who looked
to England for their cultural
traditions, the Moravians had
their roots in Central Europe.
They drew their musical
inspiration from the great
German pre-classical masters
such men as Graun, Hasse,
Stamitz, Haydn, and c. P. E.
Bach.
The Collegium Musicum
In order to perform the
music they loved, both in and
out of church, the Moravians
transplanted to their tiny
communities in Bethlehem,
Salem, Lititz and elsewhere
the venerable German in
stitution of the Collegium
Musicum. Here, in the mid
die Of the American wilder
ness in the 18th century.
Moravian instrumentalists
delighted in playing the
symphonies, concertos and
chamber music of European
masters, and Moravian COM
posers wrote elaborate an
thems and arias in the
pre-clasSical idiom.
During the 10Th century,
Moravian enthusiasm for
music receded and the scores
earlier musicians had copied
rested untouched in attics
and in the archives of the
Moravian Church.
1t has been only within
the past few decades that
music researchers have be-
come aware Of the signifi-
canoe Of the Moravian
cultural island. Growing
interest in the music finally
led to the establishment last
year Of the Moravian Music
Foundation, with headquar-
tiers in Winston Salem. N. c.,
which is investigating and
g undercovering the music
some 5000 compositions-so
far discovered.
IL is from these archives
that the Moravian Music
Festival draws its character
istic flavor.
Four Outstanding Pieces
Obviously. any detailed
evaluation Of the seven works
by European and American
Moravian composers and the
IL works by non-Moravians,
which received first modern
performances" at the 1857
festival, is beyond the scope
Of this sketchy report.
However, at least four
compositions showed every
indication that they will be
permanent additions to the
orchestral repertorv