Charlotte Sabine Schropp (1787-1833)

Charlotte Sabine Schropp (1787-1833) was the second daughter of Johannes Schropp (1750-1805), and Maria Elisabeth (1753-1801) née Tannenberg, and was born November 23, 1787, in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  She came from a very well known musical family.  Her grandfather David Tannenberg (1728-1804) was not only the premier organ builder of his day, but also played the organ, the violin, and sang.  Liesel, as her mother was known to the family, was also musical, and as a child “…especially enjoyed singing, mainly at Eastertide.” In 1787 Charlotte’s father Johannes was the business manager of Nazareth and three years later moved to Bethlehem to perform the same duties.  There were four girls in the family, and all enjoyed a very close relationship with their parents. Therefore, it was heartbreaking when Liesel became terminally ill in 1801.  During this final illness Charlotte concentrated on her catechetical studies with Bishop George Henry Loskiel (1740-1814).  The Loskiels had no children, and after her father died in 1805, asked Charlotte to come and live with them.  She became like a daughter to them.  Charlotte became a teacher in the Moravian Female Seminary where she had also studied, but discontinued her duties there to care of the Loskiels.  Also, after her sister Maria Louisa died in 1819, she took her six-year-old niece Sophia Louisa to raise like a daughter.  Charlotte died June 21, 1833 at age 45.

C.S. Schropp Clavier und Singstücke, 1799 (Pianoforte and Vocal Pieces, 1799)

There are forty-eight pieces in Charlotte Sabine’s Clavier und Singstücke.  Nine are keyboard pieces.   Only two of these are titled:  “The Twins of Latona” (CSS5) and “Federal March” (CSS22).  Another keyboard number (CSS14) has a note at the top:  “Lesson II.” This appears to be an exercise in octaves for the left hand. Of the thirty-nine vocal works, twenty-seven are in German, and twelve in English.  The themes are: worship; Holy Spirit; Christ’s wounds; death; God in nature; children’s Lieder; [songs of] thanksgiving; Christmas; New Year; secular. 

The writer of Charlotte Sabine’s Memoir mentions that it was regrettable that she hadn’t left any written evidence of her personal experience with Christ.  This isn’t the case, for even in 1799 at age twelve, she was already collecting musical pieces, which reflected upon such things. There are twenty-eight hymns in Charlotte Sabine’s Clavier und Singstücke, such as Henrietta Luise von Hayn’s hymn Weil ich Jesu Schäflein bin (I’m Jesus’ Little Lamb) (CSS40), which expresses Moravian sentiments. 

Using Psalm 23 as a model, von Hayn created the charming and childlike Weil ich Jesu Schäflein bin for one of the Moravian sisters, who was a dear friend.  Today, it is frequently used in children’s services. The melody is in the Brethren Choral Book, 1784 (Brüder Choral-Buch, 1784).  She wrote about forty hymns, which are to be found in the Brethren Hymnal, 1778 (Brüder Gesangbuch,1778), and which reflect her fervent love of Christ. In my translation, it reads:

I am Jesus’ little lamb, And I never tire of my Shepherd dear, as He leads me far and near.  He who loves me, He who ever knows me by my name.  As I frolic to and fro, guided by Him, this I know, sweetest grass and water pure, He will give me ever sure. Happy little lamb am I, loved by Him who lives on high. And when all is at an end, He will call me, as my friend, And will carry me upon his breast to my home of final rest, Amen, yes, I’m truly blessed.

Charlotte Sabine’s mother Liesel, as she lay dying, comforted others and herself by selecting and singing hymns.  Johannes Schropp wrote in her Memoir  that on 14 August 1801 “…around 1:00 in the morning she requested that we sing, and started the verse herself:  ‘I’ll fix upon his wounds, and love as much as I can, and in the spirit shall focus upon them without ceasing…Again, “…on 17 August in the evening around ten o’clock she was heard singing with an unusually bright voice: ‘Your torture, fear, and pain, O Lord Jesus console me.’ ”

The hymns in Charlotte Sabine’s Clavier und Singstücke as well as her mother Liesel’s use of hymns in her final days aptly illustrate why Moravians wrote hymns, and still do:

•  to express their own vision of God and their relationship to Him.

•  to increase the choice and number of pieces available for congregational use.

•  to celebrate special occasions.

•  to teach their beliefs

•  to comfort.

It was part of a Moravian child’s education to be thoroughly schooled in vocal music.  Charlotte Sabine may have collected so many hymns because memorizing hymn tunes and chorales was a daily event, and part of the spiritual learning process.  She came from a musical family, and as we have seen, both her grandfather and mother were known to love to sing. For instance, on May 4, 1793 David Tannenberg was so moved by the consecration of his organ during a communion service at the Graceham, Maryland Moravian Church that he spontaneously stood up and sang a few appropriate verses from the gallery, much to the surprise and delight of the congregation.   Obviously the adult Schropps and Tannebergs had a repertoire of memorized hymns, which they could call upon for all occasions. 

Although hymns predominate in Charlotte Sabine’s “Clavier und Singstücke,” the collection is made up of both sacred and secular music.  We find an aria from Sir George Collier’s opera “Selima and Azor” (1776); German, and British Isles folk songs; several English pieces to poems by Dr. Joseph Addison; songs of thanksgiving; and children’s songs.  The diversity of music and the notation “Lesson II” on the keyboard piece CSS14 support that this number, as well as others, were school instructional material.

Please be sure to visit our Facebook gallery for more images pertaining to these three Moravian manuscripts ~ Borneman Mss. 117, 142, 143.

For additional related Moravian resources, please visit the  Moravian Archives website.

Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania German manuscript collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tags: Pennsylvania German Collection, Rare Book Department, music

Sarah Horsfield (1785-1867)

Sarah Horsfield (1785-1867), was the oldest daughter of Joseph Horsfield (1750-1834) and Elizabeth (1754-1836) née Benezet, and was born December 17, 1785.  She had two younger sisters.

Her grandfather Timothy Horsfield (1708-1773) emigrated to Long Island in 1725, and after he married Mary Doughty, a young Quaker, opened his home to Moravians who were passing through his area. In December 1741, the Horsfields were honored to host Count von Zinzendorf on his first night in America. Horsfield’s family and he moved to Bethlehem on October 28, 1749.  Timothy served as Justice of the Peace and Colonel of Northampton County during the French & Indian War.

Sarah shared her mother’s same special love for hymns, and hymn texts.  Elizabeth’s children wrote in her Memoir, the original of which is in English:  “…She would frequently and with peculiar emphasis repeat her favorite hymn, ‘O tell me no more of this world's vain store...’ ”[A hymn by John Gambold, a Welsh Moravian]

Joseph, Sarah’s father, was the youngest of eight children, and was born in Bethlehem November 24, 1750.  He served as a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, postmaster, and as superintendent of the first bridge to be built over the Lehigh River.  He also was a member of the Aufseher Collegium, which was the board of supervisors overseeing Bethlehem’s businesses.  He enjoyed being active in the musical life of the congregation, and served as an organist for the services on a regular basis.

After completing her studies at the Moravian Female Seminary, Sarah taught there from 1804 to 1819.  When her parents needed someone to look after them, their oldest daughter gladly took the responsibility, caring for them with special love and attention until their deaths—her father in 1834, and her mother in 1836.  She then took up residence in the Sisters House for thirty-one years.  Sarah was very close to God, and walked with Him in a way noticeable to all who came into contact with her.  Rev. Edmund de Schweinitz who presided over her funeral wrote, the original of which is in English: “…Her knowledge of hymns was extraordinary, &. in her long & lingering illness of many months, she often gave expression to her faith by repeating the songs of Zion.  Even when her mind wandered, hymns would recall her to a sense of Christ’s presence.” 

Sarah Horsfield Music Copybook, July 14, 1803

The Sarah Horsfield Music Copybook, 1803 contains thirty-seven vocal pieces, all of which are in German, except for three, which are in English.  The Lieder, songs, and arias are for solo voice with indications sometimes for a section to be sung by chorus, or as a duet.  The themes are worship; God in nature; nature; mourning; remembrance; [songs of] thanksgiving; friendship; hope; and consolation.

Five excerpts from Der Tod Abels (Death of Abel) are found in Sarah’s Music Copybook, and shed light on the changes in musical culture at the turn of the nineteenth century both on the Continent and in America.  In 1762 when the Moravian communal system was abandoned in favor of a cash economy, key Moravian families of independent means began to pay musicians to copy music for them.  The Nazareth General Store Ledger, 1795-1806 includes, among many others, an entry in 1798 for copying the piano-vocal score of Johann Heinrich Rolle’s Der Tod Abels.

Rolle’s (1716-1785) fame was assured when he provided the music for Der Tod Abels, a sacred drama (1769) by Johann Samuel Patzke (1727-1787).  Rolle was then musical director in Magdeburg and much respected by his fellow musicians, especially Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814), Royal Prussian court conductor (Kapellmeister) to Frederick II.  It was Salomon Gessner (1730-1788), one of the most internationally popular writers of his day, who wrote the original religious epic Der Tod Abels (1759).  His Idylls (1756) and the Death of Abel  were both quickly made available in English. They appealed to the pietistic sentiments in Europe and America; consequently were reprinted many times; and remained popular up to around 1825 when literary tastes changed. Patzke acknowledged that he used Gessner’s work as his model.  It was, however, Rolle’s music rather than the weak writing of Patzke that carried the day, and assured the work’s popularity.  In fact, it so enchanted the public that Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf quickly brought out a piano-vocal score, to be used at home by aficionados of serious music for their personal enjoyment.  Rolle responded on June 12, 1776 to Breitkopf about producing a new edition:  “Leave it as it is.  It [the original edition] has survived its critics; has been in demand; and remains in demand. I have proof of this from the many personal inquiries I receive for orders.”

Both the Moravian inventories and music copybooks from 1780 onwards support the observation that Moravians were current with the musical and literary scene in Europe. Young women of a certain class and background were expected to be well-schooled in music and skilled in playing the clavier, not only for the domestic enjoyment of fine music within their own homes, but also in the unforeseen event that they needed to financially support themselves. As we have seen with Rolle and Der Tod Abels, music publishers were very quick to take advantage of this and published piano-vocal scores of current popular music, whether classical or otherwise, for private use.  They, as well as the Moravians, saw a financial opportunity, and both astutely restructured how they did business in order to capture this unique and profitable market.  The Bethlehem schools expanded their already enviable music programs to include both current sacred and popular music, and packaged them for the prominent Moravian families and outside affluent families, who would expend whatever monies were necessary to educate their daughters in the finest manner at the prestigious Moravian day and boarding schools.



Perhaps Sarah’s already knew what destiny had in store for her when she inscribed a poem on the front flyleaf of her “Music Copybook, 1803” entitled “Das Clavier” by the poet Christian Felix Weiss,(1726-1804).  In my translation, it reads:

Sweet sounding Clavier, 
What joy you give to me. 
In my solitude how amusing you can be; 
As I direct, so you become, 
One time inspirational,
Another time lighthearted fun.
If I am happy, let sound a cheerful lay;
If I am full of grief or pain, my hurt allay. 
When I begin to sing some pious songs, How much do you me then inspire.
So may my breast n’er ope itself to false desire,
My joys be pure, that they my strings will be,
And my whole life resound with sweetest harmony !  

Charlotte Sabine Schropp’s and Sarah Horsfield’s were contemporary to one another, and led similar lives.  Both

•     were born into well-to-do, prominent Moravian families, Sarah in 1785, and Charlotte Sabine in 1787.

•     must have known each other.

•     must have attended the Female Seminary together.

•     owned manuscript music copybooks.

•     subsequently taught at the Female Seminary.

•     forfeited married life.

•     became primary caregivers and devoted their whole lives to loved ones.

Conclusion

The three Moravian manuscripts presently part of the Henry Stauffer Borneman Pennsylvania German collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia are valuable assets to researchers and to the general public.  They furnish a detailed view of the sacred traditions and secular changes in the lives of the Moravian communities and individuals at the turn of the 19^th century, as well as views of a lost early America, both its landscapes and people’s lives. The constant and unchanging element has always been the music, which was the lifeblood of Moravian life then and continues to be so now.

•     The Theodor Schulz Diary, 1785-1844 will be available in a forthcoming publication I am presently preparing. It will be annotated.  Plans are for it to contain the original old German script, a transcription, and English translation, making it a very practical resource. 

•     Clavier und Singstücke für Charlotte Sabine Schropp, January 1799 will soon be digitized, and available online. 

•     The Music Copybook of Sarah Horsfield, July 14,1803 will be available to scholars and the general public at the FLP Rare Book Department.

Please be sure to visit our Facebook gallery for more images of  these three Moravian manuscripts ~ Borneman Mss. 117, 142, 143.

For additional related Moravian resources, please visit the  Moravian Archives website.

Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania German manuscript collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Tags: Pennsylvania German Collection, Rare Book Department, music

In their search for freedom of conscience and worship, as well as for the promise of economic self-sufficiency and inexpensive land, many German-speaking Christian sectarian groups emigrated to Pennsylvania from the late 17^th century onwards.  Some of these pietists organized themselves into communal societies under the direction of charismatic leaders.  Best known of these are the Ephrata Cloisters under Conrad Beissel and the Moravians under Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf.  Both communities sought autonomy and separation from the outside world, while developing self-supporting profitable economies.  In every case these people emphasized the arts and crafts, especially music. They emulated David and his singing praises unto God with the timbrel and harp (See: Psalm149: 3). They also remembered that Apostle Paul had exhorted Christ’s followers in Colossians 3:16 to “…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

It is, therefore, not surprising to find music as a focal point of another pietistic group, the Harmony Society, founded by the charismatic leader George Rapp (1757-1847).  The Harmonists established three successive settlements:  They first moved to Butler County, Pennsylvania in 1804.  There they created a thriving communal village named Harmony. In 1814 the town was sold at a considerable profit.  Everyone moved west to Indiana where they again prospered in a communal setting, also known as Harmony.  Circa 1824 the members sold this enterprise to Richard Owen, who renamed it New Harmony. George Rapp and his followers then returned to Pennsylvania establishing the village of Economy in Beaver County, which also proved to be economically very successful.  However, because members took vows of chastity, the group inevitably dwindled in numbers. In 1905 upon the death of its last adherent, the Society ceased to exist.  Its vast real estate holdings were sold principally to the American Bridge Company, which enlarged the town, and incorporated it as Ambridge.

The chief recreation of the Harmonists was music. Every member of the Society had some training, and almost every one could play a musical instrument.  They celebrated Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday, as well as their own Harmonie Fest (Founder’s Festival), Danksagungstag (Day of Thanksgiving), and Liebesmahl (Lovefeast).  At each of these celebrations music played a prominent part, and elaborate programs were arranged for them. Also, quite often during times of planting or harvesting, the members would conduct hymn writing contests among themselves.  In some instances the winning hymn was printed for use in future celebrations.

The Borneman Pennsylvania German collection is fortunate to have several of the Harmony Society’s manuscripts and imprints.  Especially noteworthy is Borneman Manuscript Nr. 101, Gertrude Rapp’s (1808-1889) Liederbuch.   She was the founder’s granddaughter, and was an active, and especially enterprising member of the Harmony Society.  An accomplished pianist and singer, Gertrude was the only female Harmonist who studied an instrument.

The bookplate in her Liederbuch contains her name, location, and date in German, i.e. Songbook for Gertrut Rapp. Harmonie, Ia [Indiana], in May 1823, along with a lovely Fraktur example of a hand-drawn spring floral bouquet with red roses, blue and pink quatre foils done in watercolors. The songbook contains many original composed pieces celebrating, among others, Christmas (Auf den Christtag A.D. 1822, 121), the Harmony Fest (Ode Auf das Harmoniefest A.D. 1822, 111, Aufs Harmoniefest 1823, 123); Easter (Ostern 1856, 128-131).  Many songs contain the word “Harmony” in varying contexts.  An astounding number praise the beauty of nature, and focus exclusively on the harmonists’ appreciation of the natural beauty surrounding them.  For example Seht Gespielen, seht die Flur (See, my Playmates, See the Meadows in Full Bloom…8-10) rejoices in springtime more in the style of a secular song than a hymn.  Another Nur Thoren verachten den Bauern stand… (Only Fools Despise Tillers of the Soil, 67-68) seems more a declaration of a secular creed than religious sentiment. 

Before the Society began printing its songbooks, the members wrote personal collections of their songs into strongly bound blank books such as Gertrude’s.   In 1820 Heinrich Ebner of Allentown, PA printed the first Harmonist songbook entitled “Harmonisches Gesangbuch.Theils von andern Authoren, Theils neu verfasst.”  Zum Gebrauch von Singen und Musik für Alte und Junge.  Nach Geschmack und Umständen zu wählen gewidmet.  Allentown, Lecha County, im Staat Pennsylvanien.  Gedruckt bei Heinrich Ebner, 1820 (Harmonist Songbook, Containing a Partial Selection of Other Authors’ Works and a Selection of Original Compositions.  To Be Sung by Old and Young Alike, and To Use According to One’s Own Taste and/or Per the Occasion, Allentown, Lehigh County in the State of Pennsylvania. Printed by Heinrich Ebner, 1820).  The Borneman Fraktur collection has a copy of this first edition with a bookplate, now part of the FLP Fraktur Digital collection, FLP B-70, which translated reads: This Songbook belongs to David Lenz, Harmonie [IN], February 2, 1823.  Please note that Gertrude started her songbook in May of 1823, and the Fraktur inscription for David Lenz, a member of the Harmony Society, is from February 1823. 

Upon comparison of the registers from both works, there don’t appear to be any shared hymns.  However, the Harmony Society printed the second edition themselves at Economy in 1827, and it is here that we find Gertrude’s nature-oriented manuscript pieces in print: Du hoher schwarzer Thannenwald  (You Lofty Stand of Dark-hued Pine); Der Greiss des Silberhaares (The Old Man With the Silver Hair); Wie des Lenzen milde Lüfte (How the Mild Breezes of Spring…).  Gertrude collected 52 songs, of which circa 25% are included in the second edition of the Harmonist Songbook of 1827.   Her choices reflect a happy spirit who sings of God’s presence in all of nature.

Gertrude possessed many talents, and, like her step uncle Frederick Rapp (1775-1834), proved to be a very smart and adept entrepreneur.  In 1827 at age 19, she took an avid interest in raising silkworms and the manufacture of silk fabrics.  Since the Harmonists were master weavers, and already had a highly developed and profitable textile business, it made sense to investigate the pros and cons of adding silk to their cotton, linen, and woolen products.  Gertrude invited silk specialists to teach her all the details of silk production.  She also learned how to care for silkworms.  Through repeated experimentation, effective techniques for reeling silk were developed. Within a few years the Harmonists were producing five to six thousand pounds of cocoons annually, and from this manufactured silk, ribbon, brocade, velvet, and satin. Their products were of very high quality, and their business grew, peaking in the 1840’s.  When the U.S. government refused to grant them a protective tariff from foreign competition, they ceased production in 1852. They realized to continue would be unprofitable. For twenty-five years, Gertrude Rapp not only managed the production of silk goods equal to or superior to the European silk imports, but also was the gracious hostess to many important personalities, who came to Economy, Pennsylvania to learn about their techniques and experiences with silk.

Please be sure to visit our Facebook gallery for more images of Gertrude Rapp’s Songbook, Borneman Manuscript 101.

Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania German manuscript collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tags: Pennsylvania German Collection, Rare Book Department, music

My name is Michael Hillegas, and if you know me, it’s most likely because I served as the first Treasurer of the United States from 1777-1789. I have always, as you may have surmised, had close ties to Philadelphia.  After all I was born, and spent much of my life here.  So imagine how excited I was when I found out that I still have connections, and at the Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP) no less!  Firstly, Laura J. Stroffolino, presently a librarian in the Catalog Department at FLP, is my cousin through my uncle Johann Friedrich, best known for having challenged Johann Phillip Boehm, a Reformed minister who played an instrumental role in planting the German Reformed Church in America.  However, in 1727 when my uncle questioned his qualifications to preach in several Reformed congregations, Boehm was not yet ordained. He never forgave this, and even as late as 1744 was complaining about it in official letters to the Classis at Amsterdam.  This is a governing body of pastors and elders of the Reformed church having jurisdiction over our local churches.  In the course of his July 8, 1744 (#38) report Rev. Boehm mentioned that “Whereupon after that time Frederick Hillegas arrived in this country with a companion.  He also had two brothers, called Peter and Michael, living at Philadelphia, but he himself lived at New Goshenhoppen.”  Michael was my father, so now posterity knows how we’re all family. I’d like to dedicate the rest of my thoughts penned here to Laura and all of our common relatives.

My other connection to the Free Library of Philadelphia is my Music Arranged for Harpsichord, a manuscript that I kept from July, 1747 to 1754 or so, and which Henry Stauffer Borneman saved from obscurity by adding it to his Pennsylvania German collection of Fraktur, imprints, and manuscripts.  When Mr. Borneman died in 1955, FLP was able to buy this exquisite collection, which reflects the essence of Pennsylvania German art and culture.  So, my music book is now labeled Borneman Manuscript 144, and, thanks to a 2011 grant from the prestigious Save America’s Treasures program, a select number of these manuscripts will soon be restored to pristine condition, and digitized for online access. I’m hoping mine will be among them.

I was eighteen when I first started keeping the Harpsichord book, and was quite proud of my musical accomplishments, so I had a special label printed that you’ll find at the one end of the book on the inside cover EX LIBRIS MICHAEL HILLEGAS Anno Domini 1747.  I couldn’t resist having another label, to be found at the other end of the book on the inside cover and written in my hand: A Collection of Musick adapted for the Harpsichord &c. with a downturned ear on which I wrote in mirror image M. Hillegas, His Book, July 1747.

People are always quoting what John Adams says in his diary about my musical interests:  “Hillegas is one of our Continental Treasurers, is a great Musician—talks perpetually of the Forte and Piano, of Handell, &c. and Songs and Tunes.  He plays upon the Fiddle.”  Had we ever had a chance to talk upon the subject, I would have told Adams that my father insisted I follow him in his business as a merchant, but also encouraged me to study music, for it was the one thing in life I lived for. 

If you’re a Hillegas, you never do anything half way.  Thus, as you’ll see from my Harpsichord book, I learned musical theory, also how to play a thorough-bass, which is a musical shorthand used by keyboard players during my day to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones in relation to a bass note.  With this “figured bass” we were able to add the proper chords to the melody, and improvise where needed.  You can’t play a harpsichord without tuning it, so I included  Instructions for Tuning as well, and became a master tuner. 

You’ll find my hand-drawn picture of a clarinet with a fingering chart, an additional illustrated finger-chart for a clarinet with four keys, which I later tipped in—an insert, which I pasted to a page of the book, along the binding margin, and a hand-drawn picture of guitar frets with the scale of the guitar.  Obviously, I was more than casually interested in both instruments. I don’t know why, but I only included fragments of some parts for clarinetto and Violino from a Minuet—a slow, stately dance in triple meter which is presently quite popular—by Mr. Humphreys, an English composer and violinist, who died in 1733 when only 26.

As to other music I collected, you’ll find George Frideric Handel’s Water Piece, a collection of orchestral movements for orchestra, written for a festival that took place on July 17, 1717 at the request of King George I on boats on the Thames River in England.  Also, you’ll find a Hornpipe in 4 variations by him.  A Hornpipe, of course, is a dance.  Mr. Handel was so fond of its rhythmic aspects that he used it as the tempo marking alla hornpipe in his Water Music, No. 12.  Mr. Handel also set Mr. Lochman’s charming verses in the song The Request to the Nightingal.

There are also some country dances such as The Man in the Moon, On Ev’ry Hill, and I’ve got a Wife of my ain’.  These are mostly Scottish, and you need a good Scottish fiddler to do them justice.  Also of this ilk are Prince Eugen’s March Tune, The Highland March, and King George’s Minuet.

Then there’s Bright Author of my Present Flame, words by Allan Ramsay and set by Mr. Travers, an English composer and organist to the Chapel Royal in 1737.  You might recognize The God Vertumnus lov’d Pamona fair  for voice and instruments set to music by Charles John Stanley in 1748.  Blinded when he was two years old, Mr. Stanley is an astonishing musician, and I must say I’m quite fond of this piece. 

I also made a copy in my book of The Miller’s Wedding, which was sung by the character Mr. Beard in Harlequin Ranger, a pantomime produced and performed by the actor Henry Woodward at Drury-lane, London in the 1751 season. It’s quite jolly.

Adolph Charles Kunzen’s Minuet taken from his Sonatas for Harpsichord Opus 1 is quite enjoyable to play.  Kunzen comes from Germany but lived in London from 1754 to 1757.  His 12 Sonatas for Harpsichord were dedicated to the Prince of Wales, and since then have been published as Opus 1. He also has written an excellent thorough bass tutor.  Of course, there are other pieces from my Harpsichord book, which I’ll share with you another time.

May I mention my former teacher Mr. John Palma, who some people say was the first to give a public concert in Philadelphia on January 25, 1757?  I rather think I made a note in my Harpsichord book that I took my first lesson on January 3, 1754 with Mr. Palma, and at the following lesson paid him two Guineas.  I also marked off how many lessons I took and paid, which were forty I believe. Also, if my memory serves me correctly, there were an additional twenty-one lessons, which I did not mark as paid.

My father taught me that you should always take an opportunity and turn it into a profit.  When he died in 1749, I took over his business, and using the entrepreneurial skills I had learned working in his counting house, increased the family sugar refining and iron manufacturing interests quite handsomely.  It will also not surprise you that I used my musical knowledge, performance training, and my business know-how and connections to open the first music store in Philadelphia, operating from my home in Second-street opposite Samuel Morris, Esq.  On December 13, 1759, I placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette letting it be known that I had

an extraordinary good and neat harpsichord with four stops; a good Violoncello; an Assortment of English and Italian violins, as well common ones as double lined, of which some extraordinary; a Parcel of good German flutes, imported here from Italy.  Also imported in the last Ships from London, a large Assortment of Musick, of the best Masters, vis., Solos, Overtures, Concerto’s, Sonata’s and Duets, for Violins, German Flutes, Hautboys, French Horns, Violoncellos, and Guittars, Volontaries and Lessons for Organ and Harpsichords, ruled Paper of various sizes for Musick, and Musick Books, Tutors or Books of Instructions to learn to play on the Violin, German Flute Hautboy or common Flute without a Master, Song Books, Cantatas, Songs in Sheets and a choice Parcel of Violin Strings &c.

If you look at other additional Pennsylvania Gazette music advertisements such as those of January 5, 1764, May 21, 1772, and June 19, 1776, plus some of the request orders I sent to the London publisher John Johnson in 1760, you’ll note that I was quite successful and knew what I was about.  I knew my product, and my clientele.  I personally was familiar with the music and its composers, and the instruments upon which the music was played.  I also knew the local music and dance masters, and they in turn introduced my music shop to their students.  So, you see there was no lack of customers, but quite the opposite.  

Everywhere I went I followed my father’s advice, and took advantage of the moment, and what it offered me.  I value what a man can do for himself and others if free to dispose over his own property thus earned by ingenuity and his own wits.

During the Revolutionary War when America desperately needed financial support, I chose to donate or loan moneys in support thereof.  In fact, so deeply did I care about the future of this land that I gave almost all of my assets to the cause.   Since I had been selected in 1775 by the Continental Congress as co-treasurer of the colonies, in 1776 Continental Treasurer, and then in 1777 assumed the title Treasurer of the United States, I saw the need first hand. During this time I came into contact with many men who valued music as I, and wherever I could serve them I did. Thus, in 1776 I added A Complete Tutor for the Fife to my shop inventory for more fife players would be needed as the war progressed.  I had other instruments in the shop ready to supply the military bands as needed.  It also was my pleasure to serve Mr. Thomas Jefferson in his musical needs between 1775-1779 for printed music, violin strings, guitar strings, and a violin mute. Some find it quite singular that my music shop was apparently the only one of its kind in all of the Colonies prior to the American Revolution.

Please know that I continued making music as well as selling it.  I remember offering to play my violin in a chamber orchestra at a funeral in 1776.  Frances Hopkinson will tell you that several of us played in 1778 for a Court of Music at Mr. Brown’s at the Navy Office.  There were many other occasions as well, too numerous to mention.  However, I hope you can see that music is and always will be part of my life, and that I have been successfully involved with it artistically and commercially since the days of my youth. My Harpsichord book, that is, the Borneman Manuscript 144 is proof of this and a valuable witness to all who require documentation of my passion and love for the art of music.

Please be sure to visit our Facebook gallery for more images of the Michael Hillegas Music Arranged for Harpsichord, Borneman Manuscript 144.

Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania German manuscript collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tags: Pennsylvania German Collection, Rare Book Department, music

Beware!  Lions, tigers and bears have been found in the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia.  Before making this discovery several weeks ago I wouldn’t have believed it either, but there really are lions, tigers, and bears in the Borneman Pennsylvania German Manuscript Collection.  I’ve only really met one lion so far, but I predict I’ll soon be meeting tigers and bears as well.  The lion who greeted me was wearing a crown; holding an upraised sword in his right paw; and a sheaf of arrows in his left.  None too friendly mind you! However, he was looking to his left, and safely enclosed in a shield, surmounted with a fleur-de-lis crown. He had lost part of his face, and tail, which made me none too happy because it’s always important to see a lion’s face.  I asked myself how long he had been living in the Borneman Manuscript 1, Hymnal of the Pietists of the Wissahickon, where I had found him.  This king of the beasts wasn’t about to tell me, and I totally understood because you see, he was in two pieces.  The bookbinder must have cut him in two before binding the blank leaves of paper into a narrow format.  While paging through the manuscript I also found a lily on a shield, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis crown.  The lily I had rather expected because someone had noted in pencil on the front pastedown (the leaf of an endpaper that is pasted to the inside of the front or back cover of a book) that one might find one.  No one, however, had ever said anything about a lion!  Both the lion and the lily are watermarks, and there are, indeed, lions, tigers, bears, other animals, flowers, and symbols used by papermakers as watermarks.

So, what is a watermark?  A watermark is a figure or design impressed in paper as it is being made.  Take one of your bank checks and hold it to the light:  You should be able to see a “security” watermark , which guarantees the check’s authenticity. Paper manufactured today, as in the 18^th and 19^th century, bears a watermark, which is unique to the producer of that paper.  It is his/her trademark.

Most paper made prior to circa 1817 is marked with finely and evenly spaced sieve-like line impressions left by the thin strands of brass wire that were fixed horizontally to a rigid rectangular wooden frame a bit larger than the intended paper size, and with vertical chain line impressions that were left in the paper by the slightly thicker brass wires laid at about one inch intervals across, and perpendicular to the finer horizontal wires.  Paper handmade on these types of moulds is known as laid paper, and is easily distinguished from wove paper, which, when held to the light will appear uniformly translucent, exhibiting no pattern whatsoever. Although there were wove paper moulds in use as early as about 1788, this type of paper did not begin to replace laid paper until after ca. 1817.

In the 18^th and 19^th century, watermarks were formed by hand from fine wire, and then sewn—also with fine wire—to the upper surface of the laid paper mould’s wire sieve. Most early American watermarks were simple in design, such as initials or a name on one half of the mould and a symbol or device, i.e. the countermark, on the other half.  Individual characteristics are always evident in both the design and execution, as well as in their positions relative to the chain and laid lines.  Paper and its watermarks are an integral part of a manuscript or book, and a vital tool in document identification. They help establish approximate dates for undated manuscripts. Often there are no dates given at all for a particular manuscript, or there are a whole lot of different dates, and names appended to excerpts with notations identifying the original author and when he wrote the piece, but no mention of the scrivener and when he copied the piece into that particular manuscript. In those instances where several people have made different entries over a period of time, the watermark is instrumental in setting time and geographical parameters. 

Records show that many American mills were in business for only relatively short periods of time, so a date before which and after which a watermark would have been less likely in use can be determined with relative certainty. However, because a mill may have held the paper for further seasoning (further aging of paper), or a printer may have delayed using the paper he had intended for immediate use, the interval between the production of a sheet of paper and its use is not so easily ascertained. Interestingly enough, research does indicate that approximately 94% of all paper featuring a date in the watermark was used within six years of the watermark date.

So far we’ve been able to look at about 20 manuscripts from the Borneman Pennsylvania German Manuscript collection, and have found 16 watermarks of which four have their countermarks.  Of those, we have five digital images obtained by using a backlit scan to capture the image. The cooperation of conservators such as Jim Hinz, Rebecca Smyrl, Mary Broadway, and Keith Jameson at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts  (CCAHA) has made it possible to do the backlit scans when the manuscripts are disbound for conservation. 

A few examples will show you how these watermark images are helping us determine when and where the manuscripts were created. 

Borneman Ms. 1, The Hymnal of the Pietists of the Wissahickon, is a commonplace book containing select copies of religious works, hymns, descriptions of religious ecstatic experiences, and poetry.  We do not know who the scrivener was or when he created the work.  However, we do know that the copy he made of Madame Guyon’s Short and Easie Method of Prayer  was an English translation "done out of French, and printed in the year 1704" (excerpted from title page of work).  We also know from a note to hymn #188 Der einsamen Turtel=Tauben…that it was sung by Johann Gottfried Selig (1668-1745) on July 24, 1709.  Selig was one of the leaders of the Johannes Kelpius Community along the Wissahickon.

Thomas’s Gravell’s American Watermarks 1690-1835 (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2002), has an example from 1709 (Fig. 619, 134) of our fleur-de-lis watermark, which belongs to Wintherthur Museum in Wilmington, Delaware.  Per Jeanne Solensky, librarian for the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at Winterthur Museum, this 1709 document (55.759) is part of their Legal Documents collection, Collection 268.  The record refers to a suit brought by Joseph Growden of Philadelphia for damages sustained (not specified), and is on paper made by the Rittenhouse Papermill, the oldest papermill in America (1690).

William Algernon Churchill was an avid collector of watermarks, and includes in his important work Watermarks in Paper in Holland, England, France, etc. in the XVII and XVIII Centuries and Their Interconnection (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1935; repr. 1967, 1985, and 1990) an illustration of our lion from his collection.  It was found on paper used in 1707 by the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, a republic in Europe existing from 1581-1795.  It is the watermark of the famous French papermaker Jean Villedary (1668-1758).  Should we be concerned that we’ve found a European papermaker’s watermark?  Prior to the American Revolution almost all paper was imported from Europe, so it’s not unusual to find European watermarks on paper used in the colonies predating 1775.  Both watermarks help us place the date of the Borneman Ms. 1 to ca. 1709, and the Rittenhouse watermark suggests that it had to have been written on this side of the Atlantic.

Borneman Ms. 98, Charles F. Egelmann's Commonplace Book of Remedies Along with Notes on Sundry Mechanical and Scientific Topics is undated. A watermark PB in outline in the center of one of the Ms. pages identifies the papermaker Peter Bechtel, a native of Germany, who owned and operated mills in Germantown, PA, and who is known to have ordered moulds watermarked PB on an annual basis from 1798 until 1820 from Nathan Sellers, America’s first large-scale maker of paper moulds.  Our PB watermark matches a PB watermark in a document dated 1806 from the Delaware Historical Society Collection (Thomas Gravell’s American Watermarks (Fig. 749, 163).  This information helps us estimate that Egelmann started writing the manuscript in America ca.1806.  Without the watermark, we would have no way to approximate the date of Borneman Ms. 98.

It is important to record paper and watermark information when cataloguing a book or manuscript: Both are essential tools in determining the age of a document, and are an integral and added dimension to the work.  Dr. Keith Arbour, noted author, and bibliographer has this to say on page xv of his Foreword to Thomas Gravell’s American Watermarks : “It is now up to bibliographers and institutional cataloguers of early American imprints to act on the widespread—and widely ignored—recognition that records for books under their scrutiny are unacceptably inadequate unless they include paper and watermark descriptions.”  

We have begun to record the watermarks we’re finding in the Borneman Pennsylvania German Manuscript collection.  Their digitization and availability online will provide a global audience unlimited instantaneous access to a resource, valuable not only to us, but also to the public-at-large.  Please be sure to visit our Facebook gallery for more watermark digital images.

Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania German manuscript collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tags: Pennsylvania German Collection, Rare Book Department