Johann Christian Bechler

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Johann Christian Bechler (around 1835)
Nazareth Hall

Johann Christian Bechler , also John Christian Bechler (born January 7, 1784 in Korropä auf Oesel , Livonia Gouvernement , † April 18, 1857 in Herrnhut ) was a bishop of the Moravian Brethren and composer.

Life

Johann Christian Bechler was a son of the landlord Johann Gottlieb Bechler and his wife Martha Beate, née. Lund. After the early death of his mother, his father took him to the Brothers' boarding school in Niesky in 1791 . At Michaelis 1795 he was transferred to the pedagogy in Barby, and then he came back to Niesky to attend the seminar here, which he completed Michaelis in 1804.

The university elders conference appointed him teacher at the university's pedagogy in Barby. In April 1806 he was commissioned to go to Nazareth (Pennsylvania) as a teacher at the Pension-Knäbchen-Anstalt . On July 8, 1806 he traveled from Hamburg across the Atlantic to Philadelphia and from there via Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) to Nazareth, where he arrived on September 18.

In 1812 he was pastor of the Brethren in Philadelphia. Before taking office, he married Auguste Henriette, b. Cunow. In the fall of 1813 he followed a call to Staten Island , where he stayed for four years. From autumn 1817 he was inspector of the boarding school in Nazareth.

From 1822 to 1829 he worked as a preacher in Lititz and for a time also as an inspector of the girls' institution there (today Linden Hall ). In 1829 he was called to Salem in the Wachau ( Winston-Salem ) as pastor and in the presidium in the provincial helper conference. In 1832 he went on a visitation trip to Hope, Indiana . On May 17, 1835, he was ordained bishop of the Brethren in Lititz.

Grave of Johann Christian Bechler in Herrnhut

In connection with the participation in the Synod of the Brethren in 1836, the family traveled to Herrnhut. Here he received the call to go to Sarepta (Volgograd) . in Sarepta he worked until the synod in 1848. After that he moved to his son in Zeist and was pastor of the local community for four years. After a short activity in Bohemian-Rixdorf, he requested his retirement in 1852, which he spent in Herrnhut.

Bechler is a typical example of the transnational career paths in the pastoral and episcopal service of the Brethren.

Bechler's passion was music. He composed and arranged numerous works for worship use that are known to this day. His best known composition is the hymn Sing Hallelujah, Praise the Lord . During his time in the USA he wrote 30 choral pieces with instrumental accompaniment, sets of liturgical pieces, chorales, ariettas with piano accompaniment and a suite for woodwind instruments.

literature

  • Curriculum vitae of his married brother Johann Christian Bechler, who died on April 18, 1837 in Herrnhut. In: Nachrichten aus der Brüder-Gemeine 1857, pp. 545–558
  • Nola Reed Knouse:  Bechler, Johann Christian. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  • Tracey L. Reed: Johann Christian Bechler, Moravian Minister and Composer: The American Years, 1806–1836. 1973

Web links

Commons : Johann Christian Bechler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Probably Korupe , see Saaremaa Kohanimed , p. 124
  2. ↑ Christopher H. Johnson (ed.): Transregional and Transnational Families in Europe and Beyond: Experiences Since the Middle Ages. New York, Oxford: Berghahn 2011 ISBN 9780857451835 , p. 157
  3. ↑ Sing Hallelujah, Praise the Lord at Hymnary.org, accessed October 28, 2017
  4. ↑ Grove (lit.)
personal data
SURNAME Bechler, Johann Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bechler, John Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of the Moravian Brethren and composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Korropä auf Oesel , Livonia Governorate
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1857
Place of death Herrnhut