David Moritz Michael (1751-1827) was born near Erfurt in the Thuringia region of Germany and received his first musical training in the Gymnasium there. In 1781 he became a member of the Moravian Church and worked in Saxony before being sent to Nazareth, PA to teach in the boy’s school. While in Nazareth he established a weekly (later biweekly) series of concerts that lasted from 1776 to 1845. He held administrative roles in both Nazareth and Bethlehem from 1808 until he retired in 1815 and returned to Germany. He was a skilled violinist and clarinetist and was considered one of the most versatile musicians in the American Moravian communities. He was also adept as a composer, and wrote fourteen woodwind partitas woodwinds and two suites for clarinets, horns, and bassoons, twenty anthems (for chorus or solo voice and instruments), and a psalm setting for soloists, chorus, and orchestra.