180 years ago the carol "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht" was heard for
the first time in a village church in Oberndorf, Austria. The congregation at
that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church listened as the voices of the
assistant pastor, Fr. Joseph Mohr, and the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber,
rang through the church to the accompaniment of Fr. Mohr's guitar. On each of
the six verses, the choir repeated the last two lines in four-part harmony.
On that Christmas Eve, a song was born that would wing its way into the hearts
of people throughout the world. Now translated into hundreds of languages, it is
sung by untold millions every December from small chapels in the Andes to great
cathedrals in Antwerp and Rome.
Today books, films and Internet sites are filled with fanciful tales purporting
to tell the history of "Silent Night." Some tell of mice eating the
bellows of the organ creating the necessity for a hymn to be accompanied by a
guitar. Others claim that Joseph Mohr was forced to write the words to a new
carol in haste since the organ would not play. A recent film, created for
Austrian television places Oberndorf in the Alps and includes evil railroad
barons and a double-dealing priest, while a recent book by a German author
places a zither in the hands of Franz Gruber and connects Joseph Mohr with a
tragic fire engulfing the city of Salzburg. You can read claims that "Silent
Night" was sung on Christmas Eve in 1818 and then forgotten by its creators.
Of course, the latter are easily discounted by manuscript arrangements of the
carol by both Mohr and Gruber which were produced at various times between 1820
and 1855.
In this age of tabloid journalism, it's not surprising that some feel it
necessary to invent frivolous anecdotes and create fables for a story that is
quite beautiful in its simplicity.
The German words for the original six stanzas of the carol we know as "Silent
Night" were written by Joseph Mohr in 1816, when he was a young priest
assigned to a pilgrimage church in Mariapfarr, Austria. His grandfather lived
nearby, and it is easy to imagine that he could have come up with the words
while walking thorough the countryside on a visit to his elderly relative. The
fact is, we have no idea if any particular event inspired Joseph Mohr to pen his
poetic version of the birth of the Christchild. The world is fortunate, however,
that he didn't leave it behind when he was transferred to Oberndorf the
following year (1817).
On December 24, 1818 Joseph Mohr journeyed to the home of musician-schoolteacher
Franz Gruber who lived in an apartment over the schoolhouse in nearby Arnsdorf.
He showed his friend the poem and asked him to add a melody and guitar
accompaniment so that it could be sung at Midnight Mass. His reason for wanting
the new carol is unknown. Some speculate that the organ would not work; others
feel that the assistant pastor, who dearly loved guitar music, merely wanted a
new carol for Christmas.
Later that evening, as the two men, backed by the choir, stood in front of the
main altar in St. Nicholas Church and sang "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!"
for the first time, they could hardly imagine the impact their composition would
have on the world.
Karl Mauracher, a master organ builder and repairman from the Ziller Valley,
traveled to Oberndorf to work on the organ, several times in subsequent years.
While doing his work in St. Nicholas, he obtained a copy of the composition and
took it home with him. Thus, the simple carol, began its journey around the
world as a "Tyrolean Folk Song."
Two traveling families of folk singers from the Ziller Valley, similar to the
Trapp Family Singers of "The Sound of Music" fame, incorporated the
song into their repertoire. According to the Leipziger Tageblatt, the Strassers
sang the song in a concert in Leipzig in December 1832. It was during this
period, several musical notes were changed, and the carol evolved into the
melody we know today. On another occasion, according to an historical plaque,
the Rainer Family sang the Christmas carol before an audience which included
Emperor Franz I and Tsar Alexander I. In the year 1839, the Rainers performed
"Stille Nacht" for the first time in America, at the Alexander
Hamilton Monument outside Trinity Church in New York City.
Joseph Bletzacher, the Court Opera singer from Hannover, reported that by the
1840s, the carol was already well known in Lower Saxony. "In Berlin,"
he says, "the Royal Cathedral Choir popularized it especially. It became in
fact the favorite Christmas carol of the artistically appreciative King
Frederick William IV of Prussia, who used to have the Cathedral Choir sing it
for him during the Christmas season each year."
By the time the song had become famous throughout Europe, the Joseph Mohr had
died and the composer was unknown. Although Franz Gruber wrote to music
authorities in Berlin stating that he was the composer, the melody had been
assumed to be the work of Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven at various times and these
thoughts persisted even into the twentieth century. The controversy was put to
rest four years ago when a long-lost arrangement of "Stille Nacht" in
the hand of Joseph Mohr was authenticated. In the upper right hand corner of the
arrangement, Mohr wrote, "Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber."
During his lifetime, Franz Xaver Gruber produced a number of orchestral
arrangements of his composition. The original guitar arrangement is missing, but
five other Gruber manuscripts of the carol exist. The manuscript by Joseph Mohr
(ca. 1820) is for guitar accompaniment and is probably the closest to the
arrangement and melody sung at Midnight Mass in 1818.
Later in his life, the Gruber family moved to Hallein, now the site of the Franz
Xaver Gruber Museum. It contains several furnished rooms in his former home
along with outstanding exhibits dealing with the history of "Silent
Night," including Joseph Mohr's guitar. Gruber's grave is outside the home
and is decorated with a Christmas tree in December.
Fr. Joseph Mohr's final resting place is a tiny Alpine ski resort, Wagrain. He
was born into poverty in Salzburg in 1792 and died penniless in Wagrain in 1848,
where he had been assigned as pastor of the church. He had donated all his
earnings to be used for eldercare and the education of the children in the area.
His memorial from the townspeople is the Joseph Mohr School located a dozen
yards from his grave. The overseer of St. Johann's, in a report to the bishop,
described Mohr as "a reliable friend of mankind, toward the poor, a gentle,
helping father."
In 1998 it was discovered that Joseph Mohr was not born in the building once
thought to be his birthplace at 9 Steingasse in Salzburg. Research into the
census records indicates that Mohr and his mother resided at 31 Steingasse. At
the same time the Governor of Salzburg, Franz Schausberger, announced a new
initiative to promote the cultural sites related to the carol and its composers.
It seems that Austria has finally realized that their national treasure has a
very special significance outside its birth nation and has become "The Song
Heard 'Round The World."
Perhaps this is part of the miracle of "Silent Night." The words
flowed from the imagination of a modest curate. The music was composed by a
musician who was not known outside his village. There was no celebrity to sing
at its world premiere. Yet its powerful message of heavenly peace has crossed
all borders and language barriers, conquering the hearts of people everywhere.
(Christmas historian Bill Egan, a retired Navy photojournalist and resident of
Flagler Beach, Florida, is a staff writer for Year 'Round Christmas Magazine and
provides Christmas research for Charles Osgood of "The Osgood File" on
the CBS Radio Network. He is the producer of the annual "Adventsingen"
concert in Daytona Beach and lectures on Christmas topics throughout the Eastern
U.S. Bill has visited the various "Stille Nacht" locations to research
the history of the world famous carol for the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO)
and Austrian Information. Gabriele Wolf of ANTO Media Relations says that Bill
Egan is the foremost "Silent Night" scholar in the U.S. and the
Daytona Beach News-Journal says that he is one of the world's leading experts on
the origins of the carol.)