The Christmas season seems to fly by and as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ve been listening to and playing whatever Christmas music I can get my hands on.  Today, however, I had an interesting thought occur.  What is the story behind the legendary “Silent Night”?

Wikipedia has a brief but concise history to the famous Christian carol. 

The song was originally titled “Stille Nacht”.  The lyrics were composed by Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818 in Salzburg, Austria.  Somewhere along the way, Mohr’s name was forgotten because the original manuscript had been lost.  And, although Gruber was the music composer, many people assumed a more “famous” composer wrote the melody.  Actually, Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven had been attributed to writing the melody.  It wasn’t until 1995 that a manuscript was discovered in Mohr’s handwriting and dated by researchers as c. 1820.  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.  The manuscript is the earliest in existence and is the only one in Mohr’s handwriting. 

As the hymn became famous, an Episcopal priest named John Freeman Young, wrote and published the English translation that we sing today.   Someone else translated the words from German to English, and I’m happy to say, we chose John Freeman Young’s translation.  Here’s the other translation for part of the song:

“Round yon godly tender pair, Holy infant with curly hair”.  I guess the translation was closer to the original.  Silent Night has been translated into about 140 languages! 

Here is a beautiful piano arrangement by Kevin MacLeod.

Franz Xaver Gruber, painted by Sebastian Stief (1846)

Teaching Corner:  What is the Order of Sharps in the key Signature:  #

F C G D A E B

(Tip)  Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

To find the Major Sharp Key Signatures:

1. Name the last sharp to the right in the key signature.
2. Name the next letter in the music alphabet (go up half a step). This is the name of the Major sharp key.