“I have no higher vision of the Church than as the Servant of the World, not withdrawn but participating, not embattled but battling, not condemning but healing the wounds of the hurt and the lost and the lonely, not preoccupied with its survival or its observances or its Articles, but with the needs of mankind.”
Early Years
Daniel Moe was born in 1926 in Minot, North Dakota. The grandson of Norwegian immigrants and the son of a Lutheran pastor, Daniel began his musical training at age five.
He studied the piano and clarinet before turning to singing. He sang in the children’s choir at Olivet Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota, his father’s parish.
In junior high and high school, Daniel participated in school bands, orchestras and choirs. As a senior in high school, Daniel decided to take up the tenor saxophone so he could play jazz, a form of music he had begun to love.
After high school, in June 1944, Daniel entered the Naval V-5 program. He served as an aviation cadet and played tenor saxophone and clarinet for Navy bands.
Studies and Conducting
In 1946 Daniel left the Navy to attend Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He started as a pre-theological student, but by his second year, Daniel had changed his major to music. He graduated from Concordia in 1949 with a degree in music.
After graduation, Daniel returned to Fargo and directed the choir at Olivet Lutheran Church. In February 1950, he began a master’s degree at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, but three weeks into the program, the school announced its discontinuation. He continued his studies at the University of Washington and completed his master’s degree in 1952. While studying, Daniel also worked conducting jobs at Ballard First Lutheran Church and Lutheran Bible Institute.
After earning his master’s degree, Daniel became a lay minister and choir director at Hope Lutheran Church in Powell, Wyoming. In late 1953 Daniel was appointed director of choral activities at the University of Denver, where he remained until 1959. While at the University of Denver, Daniel was also a lecturer in church music at the Iliff School of Theology, a Methodist seminary, and directed the choirs at Augustana Lutheran Church and Central Presbyterian Church.
In 1956, the Lutheran World Federation gave Daniel a grant to study in Germany, and in 1959, the Danforth Foundation provided Daniel with a grant to work on his doctorate in composition. He took a leave of absence from the University of Denver and went to the University of Iowa for his doctoral study, writing his thesis on his own choral and wind ensemble composition, “Te Deum Laudamus.” Daniel completed his Ph.D. in 1961 and accepted a position as director of choral organizations at the University of Iowa. While in Iowa City, he also conducted the choir at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
Oberlin and Sarasota
Daniel was appointed professor of choral conducting at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in 1972. He served in this role for 20 years.
In Sarasota, Florida, Daniel was the music director of Key Chorale for 21 years. He conducted the choirs of New College and was an adjunct professor of music at the college.
He served as the Church of the Redeemer’s composer in residence until his death in 2012.
“I had wanted to do something for humanity, to do something useful, and the obvious choice was the ministry. But I thought, if I could have my own chorus, if I could work with young people and make beautiful music, I’d be in heaven.”