Related News
鈥楽ilent Night,鈥 a simple tune and a global hit
Print Edition
When 鈥淪ilent Night鈥 was born in Austria almost 200 years ago, those present had little idea that the Christmas carol would one day be sung the world over, including this year by Miley Cyrus and some Swedish goats.
Such though was the destiny of 鈥淪tille Nacht,鈥 premiered to a modest church congregation of ship laborers and their families in this small town in Austria on Christmas Eve, 1818.
The words, since translated into more than 300 languages and dialects, including Japanese, Welsh and Farsi, had been written as a poem by a priest, Joseph Mohr, in 1816, a time of great suffering in the wake of Europe鈥檚 Napoleonic wars.
Two years later, Mohr asked his friend in a nearby village, the organist, choirmaster and schoolteacher Franz Xaver Gruber, to compose a tune. When Gruber duly obliged on December 24, the duo decided to sing it together that very evening at mass in Oberndorf church. The organ was broken, according to legend because of nibbling mice, so Mohr played guitar.
Years later in his 1854 鈥淎uthentic Account of the Origin of the Christmas Carol, 鈥楽ilent Night, Holy Night!鈥,鈥 Gruber recalled there was 鈥済eneral approval by all.鈥 This approval would snowball, although it is a bit of a mystery how exactly the song then spread.
It is thought that a key role was played by one Carl Mauracher, a master organ builder and repair man, who took the song back home to the Zillertal valley in the Tyrol region.
There it was adopted by two travelling singing groups, the Rainer Singers and the Strasser Siblings, who performed around Europe and beyond 鈥 including in the Rainers鈥 case in the US.
鈥淭hey were the pop stars of the time,鈥 said Anna Holzner from the Silent Night museum 颅鈥 home today to Mohr鈥檚 guitar 鈥 in Hallein, where Gruber lived until his death in 1863.
An English version of the German original soon followed, and by the end of the 19th century it was being sung on all continents, its spread helped by Christian missionaries.
During World War I, legend has it that German and British soldiers in opposing trenches sang it at Christmas 1914, its call for peace sounding out over no man鈥檚 land during a famous truce.
Since then the song has been recorded many hundreds of times by the likes of Bing Crosby 鈥 to huge success 鈥 and Elvis Presley, without forgetting John Denver with the Muppets and gravel-voiced satanic German rockers Erloesung.
This year, along with Cyrus鈥, comes a new version bleated by goats released by the Swedish branch of charity Action Aid 鈥 part of an album entitled 鈥淎ll I want for Christmas is a Goat.鈥
Today, Mohr and Gruber are honored in around a dozen sites locally, including in Oberndorf and in Hochburg-Ach, Gruber鈥檚 birthplace where for the past 10 years locals have performed a special play every Christmas.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
