Beissel, Johann Conrad
Beissel, Johann Conrad, German-American composer of religious music; founder of the sect of Solitary Brethren of the Community of Sabbatarians; b. Eberbachon the Neckar, Palatinate, March 1, 1690; d. Ephrata, Pa., July 6, 1768. He migrated to America in 1720 for religious reasons. His first attempt to build up a “solitary” residence failed, but in 1732 he started the community at Ephrata, which became a flourishing religious and artistic center. Beissel, who styled himself Bruder Friedsam (Brother Peaceful), was a prolific writer of hymns in fanciful German, publ. in various collections, some printed by Benjamin Franklin, some by the community at Ephrata. He composed tunes for his hymns and harmonized them according to his own rules. His compositions were collected in beautifully illuminated MSS, many of which are preserved at the Library of Congress and the Library of the Historical Soc. of Pa. Beissel was not a trained musician, but had original ideas; his religious fanaticism inspired him to write some startling music; in several of his hymns he made use of an antiphonal type of vocal composition with excellent effect. He left a tract explaining his harmonic theory and his method of singing. Beissel’s hymns are collected chiefly in Zionistischer Weyrauchs Hügel (1739), Das Gesang der einsamen una verlassenen Turtel Taube, das ist der christlichen Kirche (1747), and Paradisisches Wunder Spiel (two independent publs., 1754 and 1766). Only texts were printed in these vols., but the 1754 issue was arranged so that the music could be inserted by hand. Beissel’s life was first described in the Chronicon Ephratense , compiled by the brethren Lamech and Agrippa, publ. at Ephrata in a German ed. in 1786, and in an Eng. tr. by J.M. Hark at Lancaster in 1889.
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