200 Years of Silent Night

I have a hanging clock that plays music on the hour.  Its current setting is Christmas music, and a few days ago I noticed that I was singing along to Silent Night in German--part of the residual knowledge I retain from taking Herr Dobbert's German class in high school back in the early 80s.

Did you know that Silent Night was originally written in German?

Every Christmas Eve, hundreds of people from all over the world crowd outside the octagonal-shaped chapel in Oberndorf, Austria, to sing along to one of the world’s most-beloved Christmas carols: Silent Night.

Amid sparkling white lights on a December night, two men, one strumming a guitar, stand in front of the small chapel and sing, in German, Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, much like the song was first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818. And then carollers, bundled against the cold, sing the song in various languages.

It’s a scene especially poignant this holiday season, as 24 December 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the song’s humble origins in Oberndorf.

Silent Night’s bicentennial is being celebrated in Oberndorf and other villages in the province of Salzburg throughout the holiday season. Exhibits in small museums explore the song’s origins and the lives of the two men behind its creation: Joseph Mohr, a priest, and Franz Xaver Gruber, an organist and teacher.

Go read the whole thing--as blogging will be light the next few days!