Category: Daily Dispatch

Today is the birthday anniversary of John Antes (1740-1811), who was born in Frederick, Montgomery County, Pa.

Antes was the first American Moravian missionary to travel to Egypt. He is also credited with being one the first composers born on American soil to have written chamber music, and the creator of perhaps the earliest surviving bowed string instrument made in the American colonies. Antes’ violin, made in 1759, is housed in the Museum of the Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth, Pa. A viola, made by Antes in 1764 (again believed to be the earliest surviving of American origin) is housed in the Lititz Moravian Congregation Collection in Lancaster County. Antes created at least seven such instruments.

In 1752, Antes attended school in Bethlehem, Pa. In 1760, he was admitted into the Single Brethren’s choir there. From Bethlehem, he travelled to Herrnhut, Germany, the international center of the Moravians, to prepare for a career as a missionary. In the meantime, he also took up watchmaking. He was ordained a minister in 1769, then set out for Egypt. There, he served as a missionary to the Coptic Church in Grand Cairo. After a largely uneventful decade, he was captured and tortured by followers of Osman Bey.

During his convalescence, he occupied himself with the composition of three string trios. He also sent a copy of six quartets to Benjamin Franklin, whom he had known in America. The quartets are lost (nice job, Ben), but the trios survive.

Antes returned to Germany, then England, where he married and spent the remainder of his working life in Fulneck. The best-known of his musical accomplishments are his anthems, especially “Go, Congregation, Go!” and “Surely He Hath Bourne Our Griefs.”

PHOTO: The Antes violin (which sounds more like a creation of Salvador Dali), now in Nazareth, Pa.