Text Source
Words by Don "Orfeo" Rechtman
Music
Don "Orfeo" Rechtman
Instrumentation
Tenor or Soprano Solo, Chorus, piano (chamber orchestra accompaniment available)
O Blessed Night by Don "Orfeo" Rechtman (1988)
is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
(This means you
can perform it non-commercially or commercially without having to pay royalties,
but you are required to acknowledge its authorship and where you got it. You
cannot modify it without written permission from Don "Orfeo" Rechtman.)
Sheet Music
(To copy the score to your computer, right-click the link and select "Save target as... ".)
Vocal/Piano Score octavo PDF
Free orchestral parts (as PDFs) are available by request, or you may create your own with the Sibelius score.
Full Orchestra Score Sibelius SIB (You will
need Sibelius or the free
reader
to read this file.) To save the file, right-click
and select "Save Target As..." and save it to your computer. The file
suffix is ... .SIB.TXT Delete the .TXT ; it may warn you about
changing the suffix; click YES. The file is then ready for a Sibelius program.
Recording
This is a live recording of a performance by the Decatur Civic Chorus, presented December 12, 2004 at the First Baptist Church of Decatur in Decatur, Georgia, Mary Anne Sharp, Director, Evelyn Arnn, Accompanist. (See http://www.decaturcivicchorus.org/ for more information.) Additional accompaniment included a small instrumental ensemble. The soprano soloist is Pattie Lewis; conducted by Don Rechtman. (Professionally recorded by Johnny Woodall, Cherokee Recording Services, 770-345-2776.).
Video
N/A
Practice Tracks
N/A
Lyrics Printout
N/A
Notes
This has been performed in many locations around the U.S., including North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, and Georgia. One church used it for several years for the candle-lighting portion of their Christmas service.
The music is dedicated to Mary Lou Corcoran, one of the most amazing persons I ever had the gift of knowing. The accompaniment melody to the final "amens" moves between the notes A-C-C-A, the four musical letters present in her full name.