Gerre Hancock's Descant for Silent Night?
  • FrSamuelKeyes
    Posts: 7
    Not that long ago, when I was an Episcopal priest serving at Saint James School in Maryland, the choir regularly used a beautiful descant (I think) for Silent Night, which I believe was written by Gerre Hancock, quondam choirmaster at St Thomas Fifth Avenue. I have tried in vain to find any references to this online, and I haven't kept in touch with anyone there who might be able to help me. Does anyone here know where I might find it? I haven't seen anything in a search of this forum, but I could have missed it!

    For what it's worth, it's the one recorded here in this video:
    https://youtu.be/FpuRet-WZAc?si=8MFxmEZXSpwB1hiI&t=133
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 641
    Father, PM me. Can’t get the file uploader working.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,486
    I'm sure that the place to begin would be the choirmaster of St Thomas'. He would surely be able to get a copy for you.
    I would like to have Hancocks' descant for Ora labora ('Go labour on')
    Thanked by 3MatthewRoth CHGiffen Joseph Michael
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 641
    MJO, ditto.
  • RoborgelmeisterRoborgelmeister
    Posts: 307
    If those two descants are found, please notify--if not, I have a source that I could try (almost wrote exploit).
  • pmorey
    Posts: 1
    The descant for Silent Night is in Hancock’s “Organ Improvisations for Advent and Christmas Hymns” which can be viewed here with an account: https://archive.org/details/organimprovisati00hanc
    Thanked by 2canadash CHGiffen
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