Johannes Herbst

Johannes Herbst (Kempten, Swabia, 1735 – Salem, North Carolina, 1812) was a composer associated with the Moravian Church, a Protestant community of Central European origin that placed great importance on music in its religious life. His output and his archive are today key references for understanding Moravian-American musical practice from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century.

Herbst was trained at the Moravian school in Herrnhut, in Saxony, and before being ordained in 1774 he carried out non-ministerial duties in several congregations in Germany and England. After serving as superintendent at Neudietendorf and Gnadenfrei, he emigrated to America in 1786 with his wife, leaving his three children in Europe. There he first worked as a minister in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and in 1791 he moved on to direct the community at Lititz and the girls' boarding school now known as Linden Hall. In 1811 he was elected bishop and sent to Salem as pastor, but he died before completing eight months in office.

Herbst's most solid legacy is twofold. On the one hand, he brought with him an extensive library of sacred choral music, much of it copied by his own hand and expanded with new pieces; it is preserved today at the Moravian Music Foundation in Winston-Salem and is the most important individual collection for studying Moravian music in America. On the other, he left around 180 choral works with instrumental accompaniment and 145 songs for solo voice with keyboard. His writing is distinguished by fluid, expressive melodies and a classically rooted harmony that is somewhat more chromatic than that of other Moravian composers. He is said to have been influenced by Christian Gregor, Johann Christian Geisler and C. P. E. Bach. No instrumental works by him are known; six brief sonatas from a keyboard notebook may apparently be his, although this has not been confirmed.