About Genadendal

Genadendal (“valley of grace”) is a place of many historical firsts. Besides being the first permanent Khoi settlement in the Cape and the oldest mission station in South Africa, it is home to South Africa’s first pipe organ. The mission station fostered a spirited Western art music tradition which still lives on today and has amassed a significant music archive. The practice of the Western art music tradition in Genadendal begins with Moravian missionary Georg Schmidt, who was sent to the Cape of Good Hope from Herrnhut in Germany by Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf to spread the Gospel among the local Khoi people. The Moravian Church was originally a Protestant denomination from Bohemia. Schmidt settled in Zoetendalsvlei in the Overberg region of South Africa in 1737 where his ministry included teaching Dutch and sacred songs with the help of a Khoi interpreter named Africo. Shortly thereafter, Schmidt moved his ministry to what was then called Baviaanskloof (“valley of baboons”), which was later renamed to Genadendal.

After Schmidt’s return to Germany in 1744, he was succeeded by three Moravian missionaries in 1792, Hendrik Marsveld, Daniel Schwinn, and Christian Kühnel, who continued Schmidt’s evangelical work among the local people. Shortly after their arrival, a local woman named Magdalena whom Schmidt had baptised presented a Bible to them, which she had received from Schmidt. The three missionaries were accomplished musicians, and soon they began to teach the locals singing Christian hymns. At Genadendal, South Africa’s first training school was established in 1840, which included music tuition.

Besides tuition in violin, piano, organ, voice, and choir, brass instruments were taught with vigour. This tradition, that serves as an answer to the biblical calling of Psalm 150, lives on with the celebration of the annual “Basuinfees”. From this emphasis on music education, Genadendal fostered a vibrant musical life and produced a number of composers.

Today, much of this heritage is preserved at Genadendal’s Mission Museum. The museum was founded and directed by Isaac Balie for 50 years, and is now managed by his daughter Judith Balie. One of the rooms in the museum holds display cases that exhibit printed and handwritten scores of both secular and sacred music, photographs, portraits of composers, instruments (especially positive organs, harmoniums, brass instruments, bowed string instruments, and pianos), and newspaper articles.

For further information about the museum, see: genadendalmuseum