On Christmas Eve in 1818, two men with a small guitar entered a church in Oberndorf, Austria, and prepared to sing a new Christmas carol.
Times had been bad in Oberndorf, where many people worked on the water, manning the salt barges that plied the Salzach River. The upheaval in central Europe caused by the Napoleonic Wars had just ended.
And only two years before, the dreadfully dark summer of 1816 – later blamed on ash from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia – had caused famine and deprivation.
But in that fall of 1816, a young Catholic priest, Joseph Mohr, had written a six-verse Christmas poem that began “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” – Silent Night, Holy Night….
‘Silent Night’: How a beloved Christmas carol was born of war and disaster 200 years ago
The song was first played on a guitar because the organ was broken — the church and people were suffering economic hardship. As the article points out, sometimes songs written in times of great stress resonate with people in different geographic locations, cultures and time periods. Amen to that. Little did the creators know that their little song would not just bring comfort to the congregation, it would still be touching hearts two hundred years later.
I hope you all are having a wonderful day.
December 25, 2018
I love knowing the story behind Silent Night Holy Night.
how beautiful it is!
thank you Monk.
Yes, it gives the song so much more depth. 🙂
Thank you for sharing the back story of Silent Night. That was a beautiful rendition of it. Mom said that it warmed her heart at Mass today to hear ALL the voices join in on the singing of this beautiful hymn.
Merry Christmas!
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Woos – Lightning, Misty, Timber, and Mom Kathie
I’m glad. 🙂
Wishing you a wonderful day, too!
Thank you!
I have fond memories of the year our church invited a guitar player to perform silent night. It was lovely. My other favorite Christmas music memory is when two high school age girls (my friends) sang O Holy Night without accompaniment–absolutely beautiful.
O Holy Night is another of my favorites. Few people can sing it, but it’s exquisite when done well. I have a Pavarotti tape that includes it — thanks for reminding me.
When we (my sister and I) were little, my mom would sing Silent Night to us to get us to go to sleep. I didn’t realize it was a Christmas song for many years.
In fact I didn’t even know or remember most of the words.
I’m not a religious person, although that doesn’t mean that I believe in nothing but… that song was very comforting.
Thank you for sharing how it originated.
xoxo
Thanks for telling us.
That was what the article said, “sometimes songs written in times of great stress resonate with people in different geographic locations, cultures and time periods.” We don’t have to share the composer’s beliefs for the music to move or soothe us, even after 200 years. How miraculous is that?!