Silent Night
“Silent Night, Holy Night” is one of the most popular Christmas Carols in the world and has been translated in over 200 languages. Yet the origin of the song had an unusual beginning. In 1818, a flood had damaged the church organ in the small village of Oberndorf, Austria, just before Christmas Eve, leaving Pastor Joseph Mohr with no music for his Christmas services. Saddened by the thought of Christmas without music, Joseph Mohr wrote a carol that could be sung to guitar music. The choir master, Franz Gruber, helped him by composing a melody for his lyrics. Together they created a carol to sing for the Christmas mass. That night, the people in the little Austrian church sang “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” (Silent Night, Holy Night) for the first time.
Over the years, the Christmas carol became famous throughout Europe where it was assumed to be the work of Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven. The controversy was put to rest in 1994 when a lost arrangement of “Stille Nacht” was found and written in Joseph Mohr’s handwriting. On the music sheet, Mohr had given credit to his friend by writing “Melody by Franz Xav. Gruber” in the upper right-hand corner.
From Monthly Wisdom Newsletter, http://aikiway.com/
[Thanks to Justine Wong for sending me to me.]
