THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Volume 54 April1971 Number 2 HARMONIST MUSIC AND PITTSBURGH MUSICIANS IN EARLY ECONOMY Karl J. R. Arndt and Richard D. Wetzel forty years before famed Brook Farm was founded (1841), George Rapp's Harmony Society was a success which Almostattracted worldwide attention. It was, in fact, the amazing success of Rapp's communal plan, with its third settlement at Economy near Pittsburgh, that inspired Brook Farm. While Karl Marx was still an infant, George Rapp and his Harmony Society could look back upon the successful building of Harmony in Butler County, Pennsyl- vania, and New Harmony in Indiana, and by the time Marx was getting ready to write the Communist Manifesto, Rapp's third town, Economy on the Ohio, was a model settlement for all the world in which not only social but also spiritual security was assured for all its members. In 1847, when Marx was still comparatively unknown, the Pittsburgh Press in eulogizing George Rapp's passing on to his eternal home, called him "the greatest communist of his age." Yet, who knows of this great man today ? Our history books are filled with ac- counts of Marx, who considered religion the opium of the people, but one searches in vain for an account of Rapp, the greatest communist of the age of the manifesto, who considered religion the very essence Karl J. R. Arndt is Professor of German at Clark University and author of George Rapp's Harmony Society, 1785-1847 and George Rapp's Successors and Material Heirs, 1847-1916. Richard D. Wetzel is a musicologist, now a member of the music faculty of Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. He pioneered in examining, cataloging, and analyzing the unique musical records of the Harmony Society, and his definitive and documented account of this neglected chapter in the history of American music willsoon be published.—Editor APRIL 126 KARL J. R. ARNDT AND RICHARD D. WETZEL of life and who on the basis of his religious faith together with his Harmonists performed miracles in the America of the first half of the nineteenth century. George Rapp's Harmony Society had a philosophic and religious basis. We might describe his glorious dream and subsequent achieve- ments as an attempt to bring man back again into the harmony of life which God had pre-established from the beginning. This is the thought that inspired him to call his Society the Harmoniegesellschaft, i.e., the Harmony Society. Initallmen were to live and work in harmony, and to do so they were toparticipate in all of life's richphases :agricul- ture, manufacture, music, poetry, and the other arts —but none to the exclusion of the other for that would disturb the harmony within the Society. 1 While the history of the Harmony Society may be vaguely known to some historians, we are here presenting a unique record from the Society's fascinating historical record which sheds new light on the musical phase of its harmonious life. It is the first publication of Dr. Miiller's "Memorandum Book of the Music Band of Economy: 1828-1831." Examination of the document with its interesting com- ments willshow that many premieres of the works of Pittsburgh com- posers and musicians were performed there rather than in Pittsburgh. With these introductory comments we turn now to our historical and musical prefaces and to the document concerned. Part I Historical and Musical Prefaces and the Concerts of 1828 Historical Preface While concerned primarily with the concerts given by the Harmony Society at Economy from 1828 to 1831, this slender note book is more than just a record of the music programs offered by the Society during the period stated. To the person initiated into the his- toryof the Society itis also an eloquent historical record of the events which transpired during the most critical period of the organization's history. Toplace before the reader the full value of this unusual record the editor of the work will first put it into perspective within the general history of the Society, and his co-editor willdo the same for the musical perspective. The same division willgenerally apply to the 1 When Wilhelm Nast, the founder of German Methodism in America and an ancestor of the publisher of Vogue and other American magazines, came to George Rapp to find peace forhis soul, Rapp sent him out on the fields to dig potatoes in order to restore the disturbed harmony inhis life. 1971 MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN EARLY ECONOMY 127 editorial notes and all such notes will be identified by the letter [A] or [W] depending on the author. The title page is inscribed: "Memorandum Buch des Music Bandes der Oekonomie, Angefangen imMartz* 1828" (Memorandum book of the music band of the Economy, begun in March 1828) . The author of the record is not named on the titlepage, but handwriting and internal evidence show beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is the record of Johann Christoph Miiller,one of the earliest followers of George Rapp and one of the most important, beloved, and Christian members of the Harmony Society. Miiller was born May 15, 1778. Little is known of his early life except that in 1801 he appears as an apothecary in Feuerbach near Stuttgart in Wiirttemberg. After that he may have moved to Heimerdingen, not far away, and remained there until he emigrated to America. His close association with the Separatist preacher, George Rapp, is shown by the fact that he was one of the brethren chosen to go to the United States with Father Rapp, Rapp's son Johannes, and Dr. P. F. C. Haller to help survey the situation and to find land on which the brethren could settle to put their dreams of total Christianity into practice. With these three men he arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Canton on October 7, 1803. On May 19, 1805, he married Johanna Gottliebin Kuom, a mem- ber of the Society. Their first child, a son, born to them November 22, 1806, died soon after on November 30, 1806. A daughter, Augustina, was born July 22, 1808, but also died in childhood. Miiller was deeply devoted to Rapp's religious mysticism and served the Society with complete loyalty for thirty years, i.e., until the time of the Count Leon schism, counting the years before the formal organization of the Society. He was a well-educated man and we find notes in his hand in various records using Latin, German, French, orEnglish to express himself. First of all he was the physician and druggist of the Society and was addressed as Dr. Miiller or Miller. Because of this medical relationship to the Society, he kept many of its vital statistics. He was also deeply interested in botany, a subject closely related to the practice of medicine at that time. After his love for the Christian religion, as interpreted by Father Rapp, came his love for music, to which his Memorandum Book bears witness. It shows how Miiller grew increasingly critical of his own ability. Because of his eagerness to develop a good orchestra within *The printer apologizes to the Historical Society and to Drs. Arndt and Wetzel forhis inability to furnish the umlauted "a" and "o" called for in the text 128 KARL J. R. ARNDT AND RICHARD D. WETZEL APRIL the Society, he pleaded withGeorge and Frederick Rapp to acquire and keep the services of W. C. Peters, the discoverer of Stephen Foster, as director of the Economy band or orchestra until all members had learned to handle their instruments and would realize the need of harmonious playing under a director. How much he appreciated the help of W. C. Peters is clearly seen from the frequent mention of his presence and the sad note made of his farewell. Withinhis Memorandum Book Miiller wrote a criticism of many of the pieces which the Harmonist orchestra played between 1828 and 1831. Perhaps he did this to encourage the members of the band to improve the quality of their playing. As the concerts continue, Muller's critical ratings indicate that the skill of the players did in- crease, but again and again the shadows of troubles within the Society fall upon the musical record. Especially significant are the comments on the last two concerts. The penultimate one was held in Father Rapp's house. Miiller gave this concert the highest praise of any inhis book, and names those who played in the quintet ;they were all mem- bers of Count Leon's retinue and belonged to some of the most re- spected families of the highly cultured city of Frankfurt on the Main whence the Count had come. The last concert closes with the remark that the Count and his retinue were present and that the practice for the concert was better than its performance. No more concerts are re- corded after that. There are only empty pages with some notices of musical supplies purchased inPhiladelphia and Pittsburgh and a final note on the last page: "Economy Nov. 23.8. 1831. When Mr.Peters took his parting leave from this &When all musical Practice was at a Stand & stoped. J.C. Mr." After the concert last recorded came the great schism within the Society, with the result that the orchestra was disbanded, and that Miiller joined those who left the Society to start a new religious com- munity under the more cultured and liberal leadership of Count Leon. Unfortunately, this proved to be a great mistake, because the new organization broke up. Count Leon proved to be a fake count, who then moved to Louisiana to meet the Lord inhis seriously expected second coming at a place revealed to Leon, along the same latitude as Jerusalem.