News Release
December 2003
(Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania)—The inspiring music and pageantry
of Moravian College’s Christmas Vespers Service will be shared
with millions of viewers on Christmas Eve when the Pennsylvania Cable
Network airs a broadcast of services recently held in Central Moravian
Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Moravian Vespers Service, one
of the region’s most popular and revered Christmas traditions,
showcases the acclaimed Moravian College Choir and Women’s Chorus,
conducted by Paula Ring Zerkle, director of choral music at Moravian
College. The prelude music is performed by the College Brass, Guitar,
and Flute Ensemble. The service includes works by Francis Poulenc,
Moses Hogan, Daniel Pinkham, Arvo Pärt, Sergei Rachmaninov, and
other composers.
The Moravian College Christmas Vespers program will be broadcast on
Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) on Wednesday, December 24, at 8 p.m.
Viewers can check their local cable listing for the PCN channel in
their area. In addition to the PCN network cable broadcasts, Blue Ridge
Communications - TV 13 will air a special broadcast of the program
on Saturday, December 20, 8 p.m., Sunday, December 21, 5 and 8 p.m.,
and Wednesday, December 24, 8 p.m. Service Electric Cable - TV 2 will
broadcast the program on Sunday, December 21, 5 p.m., and Tuesday,
December 23, 5 p.m.
Blue Ridge Communications, TV-13 filmed the Friday, December 12th
and Saturday, December 13th services with a 6-camera crew, employing
digital audio recording equipment. The recordings were edited into
a one-hour program that includes an introduction that briefly highlights
the rich history of Moravian College, the City of Bethlehem (The Christmas
City), and the long-standing tradition of Christmas Vespers.
The television program was made possible by Mr.
Fredrick A. Reinhard, a member of Moravian College’s Board of Trustees. Reinhard is
executive vice president of Pencor Services Inc., the parent company
of Blue Ridge Communications. “We are extremely grateful to Fred
for his generosity and leadership, enabling the College to present
its cherished Vespers Services to a wider audience—one that extends
well beyond our campus community and the confines of Central Moravian
Church,” said Dr. Ervin J. Rokke, president of Moravian College
and Moravian Theological Seminary.
"The Vespers Service is an excellent forum to showcase our talented
choral singers and, at the same time, the statewide broadcast provides
the opportunity for Pennsylvanians to share in Moravian’s honored
tradition and enjoy this wonderful music at Christmastime,” said
Paula Ring Zerkle, director of choral music.
The Vespers service is an expression of two traditional
forms of worship in the Moravian Church, the Singstunde and the Candlelight
Service. A Moravian Singstunde (Singing Hour) is a service of music
with no preaching. Since the 1720s, Moravians have been known for their
worshipful singing. In the service, the music has been carefully selected
and arranged to bring the Christmas message without need of a sermon.
The Moravian candlelight service originated in 1747 in Marienborn,
Germany, when candles with red trimming were distributed at the children’s
Christmas service. Bethlehem’s first candle service was in 1756.
The beloved hymn “Morning Star,” traditionally
sung with a child soloist, was composed in 1836 by Francis Florentine
Hagen,
a member of the Moravian Theological Seminary Class of 1835.
The Class of 2007 aided by Gamma Sigma Sigma, hand-decorated all 6,000
Christmas candles during freshman orientation weekend in August. Some
290 friends of the College distribute these candles at the six Vespers
services.
For more than four decades, the Moravian College
Vespers has been held in Central Moravian Church. The structure,
built between 1803
and 1806, is the worship center for Bethlehem’s first religious
congregation. It was built to accommodate 1,500 people at a time when
the population of Bethlehem was just 580 people. Today its seating
capacity is 1,100.
Blue Ridge Communications is a full service communications provider
located in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, offering digital cable, video on
demand, subscription video on demand, and high speed Internet Access
service (ProLog Express). Blue Ridge Communications provides local
programming on its Emmy Award nominated local channels, TV-13 and Cable
11. For more information visit: http://www.brctv.com/
PCN is primarily a public affairs network carrying programming on
topics and culture that interest Pennsylvania residents. PCN is voluntarily
carried on nearly 150 cable systems in the Commonwealth reaching approximately
3 million viewers. For more information, visit: http://www.pcntv.com.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts
college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to
1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the
Web site at http://www.moravian.edu.
