John Antes (1740–1811) was born and raised in Pennsylvania. His father, Henry Antes, was a member of the Reformed church and shared Zinzendorf's interest in bringing about unity among the various Christian denominations in Pennsylvania. After Henry Antes became disillusioned with the Reformed church and joined the Moravians, John was baptized in 1746 by Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg. After working for a few years as an instrument maker in Bethlehem, he was invited to come to Europe, where he undertook several kinds of business with little success. Called to serve the church as a missionary in Egypt beginning in 1769, he survived many adventures both in travel and in his work there. He was tortured and nearly killed by followers of Osman Bey, a local official of the Ottoman empire. After undergoing the bastinado (beating of the soles of the feet), he was finally released. It was sometime during this Egyptian period of his life that Antes wrote the Three Trios, identified as op. 3, and a set of string quartets that are missing; in fact, a letter to Benjamin Franklin with which he sent a copy of the quartets is dated some four months before his torture. This same letter to Franklin also illuminates anther side of Antes: he interceded for the American Moravians in their hardships during the American Revolution. Antes was recalled to Germany in 1782, and beginning in 1785, he worked as a business manager in Fulneck, England. His composition of sacred concerted vocal works (some three dozen in all) began during the 1780s, and he retired to Bristol, England, in 1808, where he died on December 17, 1811. His Three Trios, though they were written abroad, are the earliest known chamber music composed by an American.

Jan Augusta (1500–1572) was born in Prague and joined the Unitas Fratrum in 1524. He was known as a man of boundless energy and strong will and became a very well-known preacher. He was acquainted with Martin Luther. He was chosen a bishop in 1532 at the synod at which he and four of his young friends were elected to the Inner Council.