The "Rose-Lilie-Blume" Story

The Sister's House and Saal of the Ephrata Cloisters.  The
photograph is one of my altered Polaroids which I made.

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with my wife about my visit I took to the Ephrata Cloisters this past November, 2017.  Spent the best part of an afternoon roaming the grounds of Conrad Beissel's Cloisters that he founded in 1732 on a small piece of ground along the Cocalico Creek in northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Conrad arrived in Pennsylvania in search of religious freedom and found this piece of ground to live in solitude.  He had two main beliefs: Saturday Sabbath and celibacy.  

The Solitary, in vestments, enter the Saal.

By 1750 about 80 celibate members had joined Mr Beissel's congregation and were known as the Solitary.  Families from the nearby community of Ephrata were welcome and were known as "householders."  There were about 200 householders who lived on nearby farms.  The Solitary woke early, prayed an hour, worked in the nearby fields for three hours, prayed another hour and finally had a chance to eat their only meal when all this was completed.  All members were vegetarian, since Conrad believed that eating meat brought out animal desires and behavior in his followers.  After their meal the community members would work on calligraphy or participate in the choir that sang complicated  A cappella harmonies.  

The printing press at the Ephrata Cloisters.

When they went to bed they used wooden boards as beds and placed their heads on pine wooden pillows.  At midnight they arose once again to pray for two hours due to the bible scripture that said that Jesus would come again like a thief in the night.  Not quite sure how he managed to talk 80 people into his idea of religion.  A few of the things that the Solitary was well known for was the use of the printing press as well as composing musical pieces.  

The interior of the Saal.

They made their own paper and ink in mills along the Cocalico Creek and used presses, type and other necessary printing materials imported from Germany.  During the 1700s, nearly 1,000 hymns were composed by Conrad Beissel and his followers and printed in the Cloister print shop.  One such piece that was composed was called the Rose-Lilie-Blume which was a piece that called for the end of days.  It was printed at the Cloister print shop with it's lyrics in German and the melodies in four-part harmony that changed during its 58 stanzas.  The Cloister's choir sang it, as well as all their compositions, in the Saal or Meetinghouse which stood next to the female living quarters known as the Saron or Sister's House.  During my visit I was able to stand in the Saal and marvel at its simplicity, yet reverence.  In 1768 Beissel died and the community eventually declined and closed with those remaining members joining the German Seventh Day Baptist Church of Ephrata.  In 1941 the Cloisters were restored to share with the community and visitors.  For years and years the music of the Cloisters was left unsung until 1959 when Dr. Russell Getz took a group of volunteers to revive Ephrata's musical heritage and formed the Ephrata Cloister Chorus.  

Verse 58 of Rose-Lilie-Blume as printed in the original document.

And, now they have decided to tackle Rose-Lilie-Blume.  After nearly two centuries the music of the Cloisters will return to Ephrata.  Getz has taken the musical notes, published in one book, and the lyrics of the 58 stanzas and combined them together for free performances.  Finally the music from Rose-Lilie-Blume, which was inspired by a verse in Revelations about a bride waiting for her bridegroom, will come alive once again.  My only problem is I will not be able to understand it since they will sing the song in German.  I still would love to hear it sung while seated in the Saal.  What an historic moment.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.