Silent Night

Silent Night.

Silent Night, Pentatonix

When I was in Junior School in the late 1970’s, my teacher Mr Keller because a number of the boys including myself all were interested in the Military and either played Soldiers or played with Action Man or similar toys,  told us the Story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, when it came to our School Christmas Play that particular year,  he decided that we would do the Christmas Truce,  he divided us into British and German Soldiers and we performed a play based on the Christmas Truce.

Although I was playing a British Soldier, and had to learn While Shepherds Watched,  we all had to learn Silent Night too,  Christmas is special and one of the things that make it special too me is Silent Night.

A History of Silent Night.

Silent Night

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Xaver Gruber, painted by Sebastian Stief (1846)

"Silent Night" (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in March 2011. The song has been recorded by a large number of singers from every music genre.

Contents 

1 History

2 Translations

History

Silent Night Memorial Chapel in Oberndorf

The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village on the Salzach river. The young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had already written the lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a coadjutor.

The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service.[1] Both performed the carol during the mass on the night of December 24.

The original manuscript has been lost. However a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers at ca. 1820. It shows that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818. This is the earliest manuscript that exists and the only one in Mohr's handwriting.

Translations

In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at Trinity Church, New York City, published the English translation that is most frequently sung today.[2] The version of the melody that is generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby, differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber's original, which was a sprightly, dance-like tune in 6/8 time. Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain.

The carol has been translated into about 140 languages.[3][4]

The song was sung simultaneously in French, English and German by troops during the Christmas truce[5] of 1914 during World War I, as it was one carol that soldiers on both sides of the front line knew.

Since that time in the 1970’s,  although I’ve listened to it numerous times ij the years that have passed since then,  without a doubt I would say that Silent Night is my all-time favourite Christmas Carol,   no other song speaks to me as powerfully about the message of Christmas than this Carol,  there are many great Christmas songs since as a White Christmas and  less great Christmas songs such as The Fairytale of New York.

Silent Night Lyrics

Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.

Silent Night (Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht)