Silent Night Explained

Stille Nacht
Silent Night
Type:Christmas carol
Image Upright:1.4
Full Title:Silent Night, Holy Night
Native Name:Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
Native Name Lang:de
Text:Joseph Mohr
Language:German
Melody:Franz Xaver Gruber

"Silent Night" (German: "'''Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht'''"|links=no|italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.[1] It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011.[2] The song was first recorded in 1905[3] and has remained a popular success, appearing in films and multiple successful recordings, as well as being quoted in other musical compositions. It is the world's most recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 known recordings.[4]

History

"" was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at the Nikolauskirche, the parish church of Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars,[1] he had written the poem "" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest.[5]

The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of, now part of Lamprechtshausen. On Christmas Eve 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for that night's mass, after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ.[1] [6] The church was eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the Silent-Night-Chapel. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.[5]

According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the instrument at the Oberndorf church, was enamoured of the song, and took the composition home with him to the Zillertal.[7] From there, two travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, included the tune in their shows. The Rainers were already singing it around Christmas 1819, and they once performed it for an audience that included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia, as well as making the first performance of the song in the U.S., in New York City in 1839.[1] By the 1840s the song was well known in Lower Saxony and was reported to be a favourite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. During this period, the melody changed slightly to become the version that is commonly played today.[5] [7]

Over the years, because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr's name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many people assumed the melody was composed by a famous composer, and it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert.[5] However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers as . It states 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.[8]

Original melody:
  • <<\new Staff << \new Voice="melody" \relative c \new Voice \relative c' >>\new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" >>

    The first edition was published by in 1833 in a collection of Four Genuine Tyrolean Songs, with the following musical text:[9]

    \transpose c d \relative c

    The contemporary version, as in the choral example below, is:

    \transpose c d \relative c

    Translations

    In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at Trinity Church, New York City, wrote and published the English translation that is most frequently sung today, translated from three of Mohr's original six verses.[10] The version of the melody that is generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale, differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber's original, which was a "moderato" tune in time and siciliana rhythm.[11] [12] Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain, although newer translations usually are not.

    In 1998 the Silent Night Museum in Salzburg commissioned a new English translation by Bettina Klein of Mohr's German lyrics. For the most part, Klein preserves both Young's translation and the interpretive decisions that inform his word-choices. Yet Klein also attempts occasionally to restore Mohr's original phrasing, changing, for instance, Young's "Holy infant, so tender and mild" to Mohr's "Holy infant with curly hair" (Holder Knab' im lockigten Haar). However, she continues to interpret Mohr's traute heilige Paar as referring to Mary and the baby, whereas Mohr's use of the word traute can mean "espoused," thus suggesting perhaps that the "holy pair" represents Mary and Joseph watching (picking up Mohr's wacht) over the curly-haired infant/boy. [13]

    The carol has been translated into about 300 languages.[14]

    Lyrics

    In the second stanza, some English versions read "shepherds quail"[17] [18] rather than "shepherds quake."[19]

    Musical settings

    The carol was arranged by various composers, such as Carl Reinecke, Gustav Schreck, Eusebius Mandyczewski, Malcolm Sargent, David Willcocks, Charles Mackerras, Philip Ledger, John Rutter, Stephen Cleobury, Jacob de Haan and Taylor Scott Davis..

    Max Reger quotes the tune in the Christmas section of his organ pieces Sieben Stücke, Op. 145.

    Alfred Schnittke composed an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for violin and piano in 1978, as a holiday greeting for violinist Gidon Kremer. Due to its dissonant and nightmarish character, the miniature caused a scandal in Austria.[20] [21]

    In film

    Several theatrical and television films depict how the song was ostensibly written. Most of them report the organ breaking down at the church in Oberndorf, which appeared in a fictional story published in the U.S. in the 1930s.[6]

    On record charts

    Several recordings of "Silent Night" have reached the record charts in various countries. These include:

    See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Daley . Jason . It's the Bicentennial of 'Silent Night': The classic Christmas tune was first composed as a poem, and it was set to music for the first time in the winter of 1818 . Smithsonian. 12 December 2020. 17 December 2018.
    2. Web site: Österreichische UNESCO-Kommission – Nationalagentur für das Immaterielle Kulturerbe – Austrian Inventory. 25 December 2014.
    3. News: Marita . Berg . Silent Night . . 15 December 2013 . 8 October 2020 .
    4. Malone . Chris . Christmas Classics From Mariah Carey & Wham! Among Most-Recorded Holiday Songs . Billboard. 12 December 2023. 5 December 2017.
    5. Silent Night, Holy Night . Bill . Egan . December 1999 . Soundscapes . 2 . . 1567-7745 . 22 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171216175758/http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME02/Silent_Night_History.shtml . 16 December 2017 . live. dmy-all .
    6. Web site: Christmas carols . BBC . 4 August 2009 . 6 December 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090522000130/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christmas/carols_2.shtml . 22 May 2009 . live .
    7. Web site: Spreading of the Song Locally . Silent Night Association . 22 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171217094807/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/spreading_song.asp . 17 December 2017 . live. dmy-all .
    8. Web site: Origin of the Song . Silent Night Association . 22 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171215204225/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/origin_song.asp . 15 December 2017 . live. dmy-all .
    9. http://www.henle.de/blog/en/2012/12/24/%e2%80%98silent-night%e2%80%99-revisited/ "Silent Night" revisited
    10. Underwood, Byron Edward, "Bishop John Freeman Young, Translator of ''", The Hymn, v. 8, no. 4, October 1957, pp. 123–132.
    11. Meredith Ellis Little (2001). Siciliana . Grove Music Online. .
    12. [Gerlinde Haid]
    13. https://silent-night-museum.org/sounds/lyrics.htm "Silent night! Holy night!"
    14. Ronald M. Clancy, William E. Studwell. Best-Loved Christmas Carols. Christmas Classics Ltd, 2000.
    15. Evangelisches Gesangbuch, hymn no. 46 ; Gotteslob, hymn no. 249 (was 145)
    16. Book: Young, John Freeman. Great hymns of the church. John F. Young. 1887. New York : James Pott & Co.. Princeton Theological Seminary Library.
    17. Book: Christmas Carols, Hymns, Etc. . F. Pitman . 1881 . London . 69.
    18. Book: Ruffer, Tim . Ancient and Modern Words Edition . Canterbury Press . 2013 . 978-1-84825-243-1 . London .
      1. 84 Silent night! Holy night!
      .
    19. Book: The Church Porch: A Service Book and Hymnal for Sunday Schools . E.P. Dutton & Co . 1878 . Huntington . William R. . New York .
      1. 42 Holy Night
      .
    20. Web site: With 'Stille Nacht', Schnittke couched protest in tradition . Matthew . Guerrieri . 20 December 2014 . 24 December 2017 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20171225035023/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/12/20/with-stille-nacht-schnittke-couched-protest-tradition/UJtywvJv9A1Q4iWxwrNaOJ/story.html . 25 December 2017 . live .
    21. Connoisseur of Chaos: Schnittke. Alex. Ross. Alex Ross (music critic). The New Republic. The Rest Is Noise. 28 September 1992. 24 December 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170629121830/http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/05/schnittke_1992.html. 29 June 2017.
    22. Web site: Silent Night, Holy Night (TV Movie 1976). IMDb. 27 December 2008. 17 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170210161614/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1283944/. 10 February 2017. live. dmy-all.
    23. Web site: Silent Mouse (1988). Turner Classic Movies. 29 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208055731/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/479772/Silent-Mouse/. 8 December 2015. live.
    24. Web site: Buster and Chauncey's Silent Night. Turner Classic Movies. 23 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161123201842/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/412432/Buster-And-Chauncey-s-Silent-Night/. 23 November 2016. live.
    25. Web site: Silent Night | Movieguide | Movie Reviews for Christians . 21 October 2014 . Movieguide . 17 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170910174327/https://www.movieguide.org/reviews/silent-night.html . 10 September 2017 . live .
    26. http://www.netaonline.org/search/ProgramDetails.aspx?id=4346 First Silent Night, The
    27. Web site: Salzburger Nachrichten. 15 December 2018. Stille-Nacht-Film feierte im Salzburger 'Das Kino' Premiere. 20 December 2020. de.
    28. Web site: Stille Nacht – eine Friedensbotschaft geht um die Welt. 20 December 2020. Österreich Werbung. de-DE.
    29. Web site: Oganesyan. Natalie. 18 November 2020. The Story of 'Silent Night', as Told and Sung by Kelly Clarkson, Josh Groban, Joss Stone and More, Set for CW Special. 27 November 2020. Variety.
    30. Web site: Percy Sledge – Silent Night. Dutchcharts.nl. Dutch. Piekpositie: 10. August 22, 2021.
    31. Web site: Tom Tomson – Silent Night. Ultratop.be. Dutch. Piekpositie: 21. August 22, 2021.
    32. Web site: Tom Tomson – Silent Night. Ultratop.be. French. Top: 10. August 22, 2021.
    33. Web site: The Cats – Silent Night. Dutchcharts.nl. Dutch. Piekpositie: 21. August 22, 2021.
    34. Web site: Sinéad O'Connor – Silent Night. Dutchcharts.nl. Dutch. Piekpositie: 71. August 22, 2021.
    35. Web site: Enya – Oíche Chiúin (Silent Night). australian-charts.com. 14 October 2023.
    36. Web site: Josh Groban – Noche de Paz (Silent Night). Norwegiancharts.com. Peak: 5. August 22, 2021.
    37. Chart History: Josh Groban – Adult Contemporary. Billboard. Silent NightPeaked at #19. August 22, 2021.
    38. Web site: Glasvegas – Silent Night (Noapte de Vis). Swedishcharts.com. Peak: 42. August 22, 2021.
    39. Chart History: Mariah Carey – Digital Song Sales. Billboard. Silent NightPeaked at #67. August 22, 2021.
    40. Web site: Elvis Presley – Silent Night (Chanson). Lescharts.com. French. Top: 120. August 22, 2021.
    41. Web site: Nat "King" Cole – Silent Night (Chanson). Lescharts.com. French. Top: 125. August 22, 2021.
    42. Web site: Veckolista Heatseeker, vecka 52, 2017. Sverigetopplistan. December 27, 2021.

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