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Saturday, December 25, 1948CHRISTMAS AMERICAN-STATESMANPage 3-B'TWAS A HAPPY ACCIDENT THAT GAVE THE WORLD 'SILENT NIGHT/ BEST-BELOVED CHRISTMAS HYMNIt was the day before Christmas, 3818, in the tiny village of Obern-dorf in the Austrian Tyrol. Franz Gruber, young church organist, was testing the organ—when it broke down. Unable to repair it and foreseeing ruin of the coming Christmas services, he rushed to .... . . young Joseph Mohr, the parish curate, and poured out his woe. •Father.” he said, “unless we find music simple enough to sing without rehearsal, our Christmas services will be without music!” The curate agreed to write some verses if Gruber would do the music. A call . . .. . . came that night for Father Mohr to go to a home where a firstborn son had just arrived. The night was far from “calm and bright.” A howling blizzard swept down from the surrounding peaks and the swirling snow and bitter wind caused the priest to draw hiscloak tighter about him. Returning from his mission, he suddenly realized the storm had stopped. The wind had calmed, moonlight silvered the snow-topped houses and stars winked from the blue-black sky. Inspired by this calm and his visit to the young mother and child, he hurried . . .. . . home and set down the immortal words ‘‘Heilige nacht! Stille nacht!” and the rest of the verses seemed to write themselves. Organist Gruber, noting the words’ beauty and simplicity, spent the rest of the night composing a simple melody. On Christmas Day. . . the congregation, awaiting the sonorous peal of the organ, was astonished when, up in the choir loft, the organist strummed his guitar and started singing “Silent Night,” supported by the curate’s strong baritone. But the hymn might have remained a local folk song had not . . .. an organ repairman arrived from a nearby town a few days later. He heard the air, learned it and sang it back in his native city. It was taken up by a roving choral group, which carried it to other parts of the country. Whoever heard it, loved it, so that in time ..... it was known and sung all over the world by nearly every race and nationality — by Sudanese Arabs, by Hindu boys in India, by East Africans. Chinese and Japanese, as well as Europeans. It came to America in 1850 and immediately became a favorite for Christma* carolers.
Newspaper Details
Austin Christmas American Statesman
Austin, Texas, US
Sat, Dec 25, 1948
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Karen J.
USA 02 Dec 2023
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