Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) - Quintet in G, No.3 (c.1789) arranged for orchestra as a Symphony in G
Performers: Eastman-Rochester Orchestra; Howard Hanson (1896-1981, conductor)
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German composer, organist and minister active in America. He was
educated at the Moravian schools in the Netherlands and Germany, finally
entering the theological seminary of the church at Barby, Saxony. After
his graduation in 1769, he was sent to America in 1770. From 1770 to
1780 he served the northern Moravian communities of Nazareth, Bethlehem
and Lititz, Pennsylvania. In 1780 he was transferred to the southern
community of Salem, North Carolina, where he spent the next ten years in
various church positions, including that of musical director to the
Salem congregation. In 1790 he was again transferred to the north,
serving successively at Graceham (Maryland), Hope (New Jersey) and
Bethlehem again. Although his official position was often that of
schoolteacher, clerical assistant or diarist, unofficially he was always
concerned with music. While a student at the seminary he copied much of
the music that came his way. When he went to America he took with him
an extensive library of instrumental works in manuscript, including
several works by J.C.F. Bach which survive only in Peter’s copies.
Although he must have studied with such Moravian composers as Johann
Daniel Grimm (1719-1760) and C.F. Gregor, it is thought that he gained
more from his studies of the works he copied than from formal
instruction. Peter composed six quintets for two violins, two violas and
cello, and about 105 concerted anthems and solo songs. The musical
style of the quintets is close to that of the early Classical masters,
such as Stamitz, Vanhal and early Haydn. They were completed in Salem in
1789 and are the earliest known chamber music composed in America.
Peter’s anthems and solo songs feature graceful vocal writing and a
considerable depth of musical expression. The orchestral accompaniment
of these works, for strings and organ with occasional woodwind and
brass, is always well worked out and often elaborate. His sacred vocal
music is the finest body of concerted church music written in America at
the time and compares well with that of European Moravian composers of
his era. Manuscripts of his music are in US-BETm and WS.
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