May 8, 2003

Plains Folk: Moravian Brass

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

It must be sunrise, because this is a sunrise service, but overcast skies obscure the dawn. During the course of the service, however, the cemetery brightens noticeably. I don’t think the band--four trombones, one baritone horn, three trumpets, one clarinet, and one alto sax--accomplished the brightening, but it helped.

We greeted Easter in the cemetery back of Goshen Moravian Church, western Cass County, North Dakota. It was worth the early rising to be part of a tradition that goes back more than two centuries.

The Moravians trace their origins to the Hussite reformation of the early 1400s in Bohemia and Moravia. The church marks its official founding with the formation of the Unitas Fratrum (unity of brethren) in 1457. War and persecution scattered and suppressed the church, but it revived in the early 1700s under patronage of a friendly Count in Saxony. The core community there, Herrnhut, became the hearth of worldwide missions, including settlements in America.

Bethlehem, Pa., was the first American center of Moravian settlement, beginning in 1741. It evolved into the headquarters of the northern province of the American Moravians, with Winston-Salem, N.C., as headquarters of the southern province.

German-speaking Moravians arrived in Cass County in the 1870s. Goshen was founded in 1878. It was the first of four rural congregations with three still in operation today. Several congregations in nearby towns have closed, but since 1943 there has been an active Moravian church in Fargo. Today Goshen and its sister parish, Bethel, are both served by Pastor Dave Sobek.

The Moravians of Herrnhut, like most of their German neighbors, incorporated brass instruments, particularly trombones, into their religious services. The Moravians of Bethlemen acquired trombones and founded their Trombone Choir in 1854; one member asserts this is the "oldest instrumental music organization in continued service in this country."

Where Moravians went, the trombone tradition went also, although the bands of Cass County were not exclusive. Pastor Dave (who plays the sax) explains, "We couldn’t afford the luxury of trombones only." A traditional venue for their playing is the church cemetery on Easter morn.

The members of Goshen and Bethel collaborate to perpetuate the tradition, playing alternate years in each other’s cemeteries, this year at Goshen. The leader of this year’s band, Bill Dittmer, is a veteran of the North Dakota State University Gold Star Band.

The Easter service begins in the white wood-frame Goshen church with the traditional pastoral proclamation, "The Lord is risen!" and congregational response, "The Lord is risen indeed!" The white-plastered interior of the church is beautifully spare. Eighteen lilies adorn the altar and piano.

Halfway through the service, following the hymnal liturgy, we don coats and adjourn to the cemetery, where the band already is playing. We sing,

Then let the last loud trumpet sound
And bid our kindred rise.
Awake, ye nations under ground;
Ye saints, ascend the skies.

A pair of wood ducks wing low over the group. Some parishioners are in tears as the pastor remembers those who lie in fresh graves. As the music continues, we troop into the church basement for coffee and Moravian sugar cake. This chilly morning feels like spring.

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Source: Tom Isern, (701) 799-2941, isern@plainsfolk.com
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu 

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