John Frederick Wolle Music Manuscripts

John Frederick Wolle (1863-1933) was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to a well-known Moravian musical family. As a musician, he played trombone and the organ. He was a concert organist, choral director and composer. Wolle was organist and choirmaster for the Central Moravian Church (1885-1904); organist of Lehigh University (1887-1904); pioneer in presenting the choral works of J. S. Bach in America and considered founder of the Bethlehem Bach Choir as well as a proponent of Richard Wagner’s work. He studied music in Philadelphia and Munich, Germany. From 1882-1892, Wolle conducted the Bethlehem Choral Union. It appears that the dates for these scores are from the time of 1884 to 1891. During his early years, Wolle composed or transposed a number of musical scores. Only a very few works were published. The most well-known hymn appears in the Moravian Offices of Worship and Hymns as Hymn #114 “Ride On! Ride On in Majesty” with the tune known as “Palmarum” which was written in 1888 for the Central Moravian Church. This tune was also applied to the hymn “My Heart speaks out on those who sin” appearing in the Psalter Hymnal by Gray as hymn #36. The original score of “Palmarum” is included in this collection of Wolle manuscripts as well as the original text for “Ride On! Ride On in Majesty.” A recorded version of this work appeared in 1981 on Crystal Records album played by the Moravian Trombone Choir of Downey (California). Other Wolle’s compositions also recorded appear on the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Moravian Trombone Choir albums: “Music for All Seasons: Chorales, Sonatas, Occasional Music” Crystal CD 220. From 1905- 1911, Wolle was head professor of music at University of California, Berkeley where he conducted large student choruses and was reputed to have a jovial, outgoing personality. He founded the Bethlehem Bach Choir in 1898 under the sponsorship of Bethlehem Steel Company president, Charles Schwab. Schwab enticed Wolle to return to Bethlehem with a promise of unlimited resources. In 1912, Wolle moved the Bach Festival to Lehigh campus where he was on the faculty. Ever since that time the Bach Festival is held in the Packer Memorial Church the first two weekends in May. Wolle’s sister, Helen, married Professor Charles L. Doolittle, another Lehigh faculty member. They became the parents of Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) an American poetess. Wolle married Jennie C. Stryker in 1886 they were parents of daughter, Gretchen, who donated this Wolle collection of material to Lehigh University’s Special Collections. Mr. Wolle is identified as AMG Artist #Q68354.