The wonderful American organist and noted improviser Gerre Hancock also composed choral music.
The anthem "Judge eternal, throned in splendor" is, perhaps, his best-known choral work.
I love the music of this anthem. It's glorious and grand. It's insistent and assertive. Yet at its core is a lovely lyricism - a real melodic masterstroke. (For evidence of this, look no further than this melody's use as a hymn tune SANDRIA)
But in all of this music, I cannot help but hear the elegant beauty Hancock – and other Americans of his generation, including Aaron Copland – learned at the feet of French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
And so it is the "French" sound of this anthem that I hear after the events of Friday in Paris.
These words, and many others, ring out with greater poignancy in the aftermath of events such as these. The author is Henry Scott Holland.
Judge eternal, throned in splendor,
Lord of lords and King of kings,
with thy living fire of judgment
purge this land of bitter things;
solace all its wide dominion
with the healing of thy wings.
Still the weary folk are pining
for the hour that brings release,
and the city's crowded clangor
cries aloud for sin to cease;
and the homesteads and the woodlands
plead in silence for their peace.
Crown, O God, thine own endeavor;
cleave our darkness with thy sword;
feed all those who do not know thee
with the richness of thy word;
cleanse the body of this nation
through the glory of the Lord.
These words will be sung to the "French" music of Hancock at the parish where I serve on Sunday morning.
These words also appear in the Hymnal 1982 at Hymn 596.
In his Aaron Copland biography, Howard Pollack does say that Episode (1940) is Copland's only piece for solo organ
In actuality, Copland also arranged Preamble for a Solemn Occasion (1949) for organ. This was an orchestral work that was written for the first anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
So which is it? What's the difference?
They way Pollack sees it, Preamble is a great piece (which it is), and Copland sought to give it a wider audience through various arrangements. (Copland dismissed it was a potboiler. He was wrong. It's a great piece.)
Episode, meanwhile, was commissioned by publisher H. W. Gray and organist William Strickland. After it's premiere, the work was largely ignored and, Pollack notes, not mentioned by Copland in his memoirs.
It's always been interesting to me that Copland, whose career was largely launched by his Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, would then largely ignore the organ for the rest of his career.
Surely Copland understood how to write for the organ given his early work. He simply must not have been interested in its potential as a solo instrument.
The author of this website is an organist whom the New York Times calls “repeatedly, insisting that he pay for his subscription”.
He likes to read parking meters, music, Indianapolis Monthly, and weather forecasts in Celsius, particularly whilst wearing cassock and surplice.
He serves lasagna, overhand, as an example to many, and on ecclesiastical juries. He mixes salads, drinks, and metaphors. He takes photos, lots of dinner mints, and a little bit of time to get to know.
The wonderful American organist and noted improviser Gerre Hancock also composed choral music.