Product Description
This moving arrangement of Silent Night for brass quintet makes a powerful addition to any Christmas concert. It was written to commemorate the centenary of the 1914 "Christmas Truce" along the Western front during the First World War. Allied and German soldiers met peacefully in no man's land, held joint burials, exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols. Silent Night (Stille Nacht), by Austrian organist Franz Xaver Gruber was one of many tunes familiar to both sides.
Silent Night in Flanders begins with a somber chorale weaving together fragments of the hymn tune and allusions to The Last Post. The cornet part transitions to a solo rendition of Silent Night, as though a lone soldier is singing the carol. Another soldier (the horn) joins in, followed by the rest of the quintet for a stirring second verse accompanied by a bugle call descant.
The arrangement suggests cornet and flugelhorn in lieu of trumpets, but may be performed successfully with standard brass quintet instrumentation. Also included are alternate parts for U.K. instrumentation: E-flat horn, treble clef trombone, and treble clef tuba. Performance time is approx. 3:15.
Silent Night in Flanders was premiered by the Bedford Brass Quintet in 2014 at historic St. Paul's Anglican Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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