Hymnody in the Religious Communal Societies of Early America

This paper seeks to define the roles played by hymnody and music among the Ephratans, Moravians, Shakers, and Harmonists.The interpretive and perspective follows the anthropological definition of religion as a cultural system and argues that hymnody occupied a central place in the communalists' effort to create new systems of religious culture.Using comparative historical information from each of the four societies, the paper identifies six areas of hymnic activity: social, material, musical, liturgical, ideological, and spiritual.Socially, the communalists invested great prestige on musical leaders, developed educational formats for learning hymns, and, in the Moravian case, employed the choir as a model and metaphor for institutionalization of community life.Hymnody was an important part of material culture, particularly effecting the design of worship space and the production of printed and manuscript hymnals.In musical terms, the societies generated a vast repertoire of tunes and anthems, some of it, especially Moravian and Harmonist, influenced by European styles, much of it, notably Ephratan and Shaker, expressive of a unique musicality.In addition, the societies developed distinctive theories of music, harmony, and notation.Among the more explicitly religious functions of hymnody, the societies placed hymns and songs at the heart of their worship and designed distinctive service forms reflective of this innovation: Ephratan midnight watch, Moravaian singstunde, Shaker sacred dance, Harmonist musicales.Hymnody also provided a perfect medium for the transmission of religious ideas.In literally thousands of original hymn texts, the communal societies created systematic worldviews that interpreted every dimension of community life and religious experience.Finally, hymnody served as an important vehicle for the reception of the Holy Spirit.Singing was for the societies a Divine gift which manifested and created the love, union, and harmony of their community.