Music was an important part of daily life in early Bethlehem. Hymns and brass ensembles served specific ceremonial functions. The Moravian church leaders encouraged the expertise of community members on stringed instruments, organs, pianos and wind instruments. Moravian missionaries carried their knowledge of this music deep into the wilderness of America. The Bethlehem Collegium Musicum (the first symphony orchestra in America, established in 1744) played the music of the best composers of the day. Music by the Stamitzes, Haydn, Mozart and the Bach family could be heard on the streets of Bethlehem long before they were heard in Philadelphia, New York City or Boston.

The singing of hymns was greatly encouraged by their sponsor, Count Zinzendorf. Before the Moravians arrived in America, they used brass ensembles to announce special events. Congregants accompanied the music with singing at services and funerals. Moravian schools were known for their excellent musical training provided for their students.

To play the music of the great composers, it was essential to obtain authentic scores. As most sheet music was held in the great European libraries and in private collections of royalty, the occupation of copyist emerged in the 1600s. A copyist needed to be familiar with how music was written. These men, and occasionally women, were usually musicians themselves who were well educated in musical composition. They had to be accurate with the quill pen and needed access to good paper. The Moravians in Herrnhut, Germany, copied about 150 works of Haydn. Many of those copies crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the Moravian settlers.

The Moravian church holds the largest private collection of music, nearly 10,000 manuscripts and printed works, in the United States. Many of these works are not known to exist elsewhere in the world. In the 1950s, the earliest known copy of Haydn’s Symphony in F major, No. 17, was found in the Winston-Salem Archives. It had been secured in the community for almost 200 years before the significance of the manuscript was discovered. Johan Friederich Peter (1746-1813) had made the copy before he left Germany for Bethlehem.

The talented copyists, Jeremias Dencke (1725-1795) and Immanual Nitschmann (1736-1790), arrived in Bethlehem in 1761. Johan Friederich Peter followed in 1773. The men had left Germany at a time when orchestral accompanied church music was just becoming popular in Europe. The Moravian copyists preserved for posterity these important works. Moravians themselves also composed the earliest chamber music, anthems, solos, and duets for voices in America. Johann Friedrich Peter composed at least eighty works of music.