Daniel T. Moe was born on November 2, 1926 in Minot, North Dakota. The son of Lutheran minister Reverend J.M. Moe, Daniel Moe’s Lutheran roots heavily influenced his approach to music. Growing up in Fargo, North Dakota, Moe attended Hawthorne Elementary School and subsequently graduated from Central High in 1944. Throughout his childhood Moe was extremely involved in musical activities, including church choirs, adult choirs, the school band, orchestra, chorus, jazz band, and glee club. Following high school, Moe served in the Naval Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet from 1944 to 1946.

As an undergraduate, Moe aspired to be both a composer and a conductor. He completed his B.A. from Concordia College in 1949 and then began graduate study at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. On July 23, 1951, Moe married Doris Tanner. She received her B.A. from St. Olaf College. She subsequently worked as a social worker in Seattle, Denver, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before she completed some graduate study at Columbia University in New York.

Daniel Moe received his M.A. at the University of Washington in 1952. The following year he undertook the position of Director of Choral Activities at the University of Denver, a position he would hold until 1959. He simultaneously served as a Lecturer in Church Music at The Iliff School of Theology in Denver and spent a period of time studying at the Kirchenmusikschule in Hanover, Germany in 1956. During this time, Doris Tanner Moe gave birth to the couple’s first son, Erik Tanner Moe, on June 6, 1958.

Moe cited several men who were influential in his musical development during the early part of his musical career, including Paul J. Christiansen (Concordia College), Robert D. Holliday (Hamelin University), and Stanley Chapple (University of Washington). He also noted the importance of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, which he worked with as a guest conductor, 1955-56. His experience with the orchestra allowed him the opportunity to develop knowledge of the choral-orchestral medium.

In 1961 Moe took the position of Director of Choral Music at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He served as the Iowa State Chairman of the American Choral Directors Association for two years, 1963-65. He also took a brief position as a Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California in the summer of 1963. During this time the Moes had two more children, Nelson Jacob (July, 6. 1961) and Martin Troen (June 18, 1965). In 1968 Daniel Moe organized a University of Iowa Choir tour to Yucatan, Mexico that received an abundance of regional publicity. In addition to his academic work, Moe served as the President of the Lutheran Society for Worship, Music, and the Arts, and as the director of various protestant church choirs.

He joined the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in 1972 and served as Professor of Choral Conducting, the Conductor of the Musical Union, Oberlin College Choir, and Oberlin College Chorus. Moe helped transform the Choir into a touring musical group and had a dramatic impact on his students.

Following his divorce from Dorris Moe, Daniel Moe married Ann Stephenson, the choirmaster and organist at the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Florida. Together they had two children. In 1992, he retired to Florida and became the director of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.

Over the course of his career, Moe wrote several influential books, including Problems in Conducting (1968, Augsburg) and Basic Choral Concepts (1971, Augsburg). He was also a frequent contributor to journals such as Journal of Church Music and The Choral Journal. For further information about Moe’s career, see the following articles:

Salisbury, Wilma. "Oberlin Conductor Scales Choral Heights," The Plain Dealer (9/24/1972).

McCray, James. "American Choral Music with Organ: The Music of Daniel Moe," The American Organist, Vol 21, No. 2 (February 1987).

See also:

The Faculty File of Daniel Moe, Alumni and Development Records, 28/3

The Oberlin College Online Catalog (OBIS) for musical works of Daniel Moe.