Studies of the Max Kade Institute

Extensive German-American musical literacy further meant that
music took its place amidst a wide range of diverse cultural activities.
German-American religious and community leaders were often
polymaths and frequently turned to music when in need of a forceful
means for expressing philosophical ideals or forging social attitudes.
Johannes Kelpius and Conrad Beissel, leaders of the "Hermits of
the Ridge" and Ephrata sects in colonial Pennsylvania respectively,
both wrote hymns which were among the earliest musical works
published in America.8 Hymns may in fact have constituted the
most powerful and cogent forms of literary expression for colonial
Germans,9 and throughout the history of German-American ethnic
communities hymnbooks have served as a forum for doctrinal debate,
if not social conflict, among divergent German-American religious
groups.
To understand the complex role played by music in the German-
American press one must interpret the concept "press" in its broadest
sense.  Thus, I employ "press" when referring to journalistic
and periodical publications as well as to broadsides and books of
music. I afford "press" this broad range of meanings not simply to
permit me greater license to generalize, but to reflect the interaction
and interdependence that persistently characterized the different
published genres of German-American music. This interdependence
resulted, furthermore, from a reality that is abundantly evident
throughout the history of the German-American press, namely that a
press or publishing firm rarely restricted itself to a single genre, but
rather claimed a catalog that addressed the cultural needs of as broad
a spectrum of the German-American public as possible. In other
words, the processes of mediation with which I am concerned here
were intrinsic to the fundamental structure-the historical mission,
if you will-of the German-American press.
The Multi-Faceted Missions of the Religious Press
Characteristic of the religious press was an ability to diversify
and consolidate the music of German-Americans. On the one hand,
each denomination or sect depended on its own press or a press
capable of responding to a sectarian commission for publishing a
particular hymnody, anthology of religious or semi-religious songs

72