This is a new printing of the original edition on sturdy acid-free paper. 12 pages. All markings are original. There is a brief biography of Buck, exclusive to Michael’s Music Service, a full-size pictorial engraving, comments on the piece, and a list of Buck’s published organ pieces. Dudley Buck was for several decades America’s most famous organist and organ composer. At the time of publication of The Holy Night, he was the organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, playing their enlarged III/40 stop 1873 Hilborne Roosevelt, Opus 3. Highest quality guaranteed. Size of music is 12.5" x 9.5". $8.00.

Dudley Buck (1839-1909), a contemporary of Eugene Thayer and John Knowles Paine, was one of the early American organ virtuosi who composed many works for the organ. “The Holy Night” was published in 1891, late in Buck’s compositional timeline. It is the third of a four-piece set of programmatic pieces titled Four Tone Pictures and is the first piece for organ to depict the action of a dramatic scene. He includes the following to describe the scene: “There were shepherds abiding in the field, Keeping watch over their flocks by night.” You hear “Silent Night” to portray the shepherds at night, and later to indicate the appearance of the angels, you hear “O Come All Ye Faithful.” The notes fall nearly always under the hand, and there is no advanced technique required. The entire piece lies between easy and moderately easy. To my knowledge, there have been no commercial recordings of the entire piece.