Silent Night

by Mary Jo

For the second of our Word Wench Christmastide posts, I wanted to tell you about a wonderful article on the history of the beoved Christmas carol Silent Night, which ran in the Baltimore Sun on Christmas Day.  Written by Youngsuck Kim, a music professor at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, it commemorates the 200th anniversary of the song and starts with the lovely story from WWI when three armies in the trenches sang Silent Night in German, English, and French for a moment of Christmas peace. 

I knew that story, though not that a Scottish piper in the British army chimed in on his
bagpipes to accompany the singing.  Nor did I know the song was written because the composer, a priest called Father Joseph Mohr, was having trouble with his church organ and had to quickly come up with a song that could be accompanied on a guitar.  And a miracle of music it was as church organist Franz Xaver Gruber composed a melody to go with the music!

I recommend reading the whole article, and may it invoke peace--

Mary Jo, who took the pictures at her local mall, where there are many lovely Christmas things

 

Comments

[Mary M.]

I went to a Peruvian dance recital the other night. They started with a nativity story acted by the children. When it came time for Jesus to be born, "Mary" leaned forward and uncovered the face of the doll in the manger. All I could think was, "If only it were that easy ..."

Hope everyone had a fun Christmas!

[Mary Jo Putney]

LOL! A good point, Mary M. Yes, we had lovely Christmases, and I hope yours was also.

[Sue McCormick]

Although I had forgotten about it, I had known about the organ part of the story. But I hadn't heard about the early Christmas truce. Thanks for sharing the story.

[Cynthia]

At my church, we follow communion after every Christmas Mass with Silent Night. All the lights are turned off except candles and the trees. It’s so powerful to sit in the dark and sing this together.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Sue, this is a song with a history! The WWI Christmas truce singing is haunting.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Cynthia, what a lovely tradition! So simple, yet so moving.