Silent Night, Holy Night
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle A
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good news of a great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." (vv. 10--11)
It is funny how we begin to see a series of coincidences for what they often are - providence. God has a way of stringing together the unlikely as a sign. For instance, look at the history of the hymn "Silent Night" and my occasion to read it. The story of its creation is worth repeating. In 1818, Joseph Mohr was a 26--year--old assistant priest at St. Nicholas' Church at Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Alps. In the days before Christmas, the old church organ was out of commission. Legend says mice had chewed through the bellows. It would be spring before the itinerant organ repairman would be in the area to fix it. This created the obvious problem that there would be no organ accompaniment for Christmas Eve Mass.
To help remedy this, Mohr approached 31--year--old Franz X. Gruber, the organist at St. Nicholas' Church and a schoolteacher in the neighboring village of Arnsdorf. Two years prior, when Mohr was assigned to a small church in Mariapfarr, he wrote a poem depicting the birth of Christ. Mohr asked Gruber to set the poem to music so that they could sing it together with guitar accompaniment at the midnight service. They named their composition "Song From Heaven," and unveiled it December 24, 1818. Since then, it has become the classic carol we know as "Silent Night." It has been translated into virtually every language and has become a staple at Christmas Eve candlelight services around the world.
Yet, Mohr and Gruber never realized how popular their little song would become. Since "Silent Night" was written as a stopgap when the organ quit, the pair didn't plan on the song being sung after the initial performance in 1818. In fact, the two men parted ways shortly after Christmas as Mohr was transferred away from Oberndorf. The song's popularity was localized and then soon forgotten.
However, in 1825, Karl Mauracher was hired to rebuild the organ at the St. Nicholas' church. After making the repairs, Mauracher asked Gruber to play the organ to check the tuning. Gruber played "Song From Heaven." Mauracher loved the song and requested permission to take the song back home with him to the Ziller Valley in the mountains of Tyrol. Permission was granted and Mauracher took a handwritten copy of the words and musical notation of "Song From Heaven." The Ziller Valley was home to folk choirs who performed for wealthy noblemen all over Europe. One of these singing groups was a quartet of children - Caroline, Joseph, Andreas, and Amalie Strasser. They spread "Silent Night" wherever they went. They performed at the Royal Saxon Court Chapel of Piessenburg Castle in Leipzig and the Royal Court of Berlin in Prussia. However without copyright laws, no credit was ever given to the composers and the song became associated with the Ziller Valley folk choirs. The song commonly became known as "The Tyrolean Folk Carol."
It is a miracle that Mohr and Gruber were ever credited for their work. Over the years, the carol had been attributed to many different composers including Herr Hadyn, Franz Joseph Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Fortunately in 1854, the director of the Royal Court Choir of Berlin began to research the origins of the carol because it was the favorite Christmas hymn of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. The director was a curious academic, who traced the true origins of the carol to Salzburg where Mohr had first written the poem in 1816. If not for this disciplined research, we might never have recognized Joseph Mohr and Franz X. Gruber as the composers of "Silent Night."
This research was confirmed in 1997 when a volunteer at the Carolino Augusteum Museum in Salzburg, Austria, discovered an original handwritten Mohr manuscript. Handwriting experts dated the manuscript to 1820, making it the oldest known manuscript of "Silent Night." The lower left hand corner bears the signature of Josef Mohr, followed by "1816" designating the year the original poem was written. The upper right--hand corner designates Gruber as the tune's composer with the words "Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber." This silences any doubts about who wrote the music for this world--famous carol.
Many of the circumstances surrounding this story could be termed coincidences. It was a coincidence that the organ didn't work precipitating the need for a new song played on guitar. It was a coincidence that the song was discovered and circulated by an organ repairman who happened to be from an area that sang all over Europe. It was a coincidence that the carol was a favorite of the Prussian king so that the choir director would research the history discovering Mohr and Gruber as the composers. And it was coincidence that the 1820 manuscript was uncovered which confirmed the authenticity of the composers. But when looking through the eyes of faith, we often see that coincidences are, in fact, God's intervention.
I believe God intervened when Bill Warner came to visit me a couple days after I read the history of "Silent Night." Bill, a Catholic, is the widower of one of my members. He stopped by the office bringing a four--foot high wooden crucifix for me to see. The crucifix was carved out of apple wood by Bill's great--grandfather. Jesus was depicted in great detail as attention was given to his hair, teeth, fingernails, and an expression of agony. Bill also brought a newspaper article protected in a glassed--in frame. The newspaper article was from a Fort Smith, Arkansas, newspaper dated December 24, 1967. The article showed pictures of the large crucifix and told how it had been passed through the family eventually to Bill's mother.
The article also shared the story of Bill's talented great--grandfather who was skilled in more than just woodcarving. He was also a very talented organ craftsman who lived in the Ziller Valley of Austria in 1825. Bill's great--grandfather is Karl Mauracher, the man who spread "Silent Night" throughout the world.
Was it a coincidence that I read the "Silent Night" story a few days before Bill's visit with me? No, of course not. It was the unfolding of a God story. It was a gentle reminder that God is in our midst. Which, not so incidentally, is what Christmas is all about. We celebrate the birth of our Savior and Messiah.
It is funny how we begin to see a series of coincidences for what they often are - providence. God has a way of stringing together the unlikely as a sign. For instance, look at the history of the hymn "Silent Night" and my occasion to read it. The story of its creation is worth repeating. In 1818, Joseph Mohr was a 26--year--old assistant priest at St. Nicholas' Church at Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Alps. In the days before Christmas, the old church organ was out of commission. Legend says mice had chewed through the bellows. It would be spring before the itinerant organ repairman would be in the area to fix it. This created the obvious problem that there would be no organ accompaniment for Christmas Eve Mass.
To help remedy this, Mohr approached 31--year--old Franz X. Gruber, the organist at St. Nicholas' Church and a schoolteacher in the neighboring village of Arnsdorf. Two years prior, when Mohr was assigned to a small church in Mariapfarr, he wrote a poem depicting the birth of Christ. Mohr asked Gruber to set the poem to music so that they could sing it together with guitar accompaniment at the midnight service. They named their composition "Song From Heaven," and unveiled it December 24, 1818. Since then, it has become the classic carol we know as "Silent Night." It has been translated into virtually every language and has become a staple at Christmas Eve candlelight services around the world.
Yet, Mohr and Gruber never realized how popular their little song would become. Since "Silent Night" was written as a stopgap when the organ quit, the pair didn't plan on the song being sung after the initial performance in 1818. In fact, the two men parted ways shortly after Christmas as Mohr was transferred away from Oberndorf. The song's popularity was localized and then soon forgotten.
However, in 1825, Karl Mauracher was hired to rebuild the organ at the St. Nicholas' church. After making the repairs, Mauracher asked Gruber to play the organ to check the tuning. Gruber played "Song From Heaven." Mauracher loved the song and requested permission to take the song back home with him to the Ziller Valley in the mountains of Tyrol. Permission was granted and Mauracher took a handwritten copy of the words and musical notation of "Song From Heaven." The Ziller Valley was home to folk choirs who performed for wealthy noblemen all over Europe. One of these singing groups was a quartet of children - Caroline, Joseph, Andreas, and Amalie Strasser. They spread "Silent Night" wherever they went. They performed at the Royal Saxon Court Chapel of Piessenburg Castle in Leipzig and the Royal Court of Berlin in Prussia. However without copyright laws, no credit was ever given to the composers and the song became associated with the Ziller Valley folk choirs. The song commonly became known as "The Tyrolean Folk Carol."
It is a miracle that Mohr and Gruber were ever credited for their work. Over the years, the carol had been attributed to many different composers including Herr Hadyn, Franz Joseph Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Fortunately in 1854, the director of the Royal Court Choir of Berlin began to research the origins of the carol because it was the favorite Christmas hymn of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. The director was a curious academic, who traced the true origins of the carol to Salzburg where Mohr had first written the poem in 1816. If not for this disciplined research, we might never have recognized Joseph Mohr and Franz X. Gruber as the composers of "Silent Night."
This research was confirmed in 1997 when a volunteer at the Carolino Augusteum Museum in Salzburg, Austria, discovered an original handwritten Mohr manuscript. Handwriting experts dated the manuscript to 1820, making it the oldest known manuscript of "Silent Night." The lower left hand corner bears the signature of Josef Mohr, followed by "1816" designating the year the original poem was written. The upper right--hand corner designates Gruber as the tune's composer with the words "Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber." This silences any doubts about who wrote the music for this world--famous carol.
Many of the circumstances surrounding this story could be termed coincidences. It was a coincidence that the organ didn't work precipitating the need for a new song played on guitar. It was a coincidence that the song was discovered and circulated by an organ repairman who happened to be from an area that sang all over Europe. It was a coincidence that the carol was a favorite of the Prussian king so that the choir director would research the history discovering Mohr and Gruber as the composers. And it was coincidence that the 1820 manuscript was uncovered which confirmed the authenticity of the composers. But when looking through the eyes of faith, we often see that coincidences are, in fact, God's intervention.
I believe God intervened when Bill Warner came to visit me a couple days after I read the history of "Silent Night." Bill, a Catholic, is the widower of one of my members. He stopped by the office bringing a four--foot high wooden crucifix for me to see. The crucifix was carved out of apple wood by Bill's great--grandfather. Jesus was depicted in great detail as attention was given to his hair, teeth, fingernails, and an expression of agony. Bill also brought a newspaper article protected in a glassed--in frame. The newspaper article was from a Fort Smith, Arkansas, newspaper dated December 24, 1967. The article showed pictures of the large crucifix and told how it had been passed through the family eventually to Bill's mother.
The article also shared the story of Bill's talented great--grandfather who was skilled in more than just woodcarving. He was also a very talented organ craftsman who lived in the Ziller Valley of Austria in 1825. Bill's great--grandfather is Karl Mauracher, the man who spread "Silent Night" throughout the world.
Was it a coincidence that I read the "Silent Night" story a few days before Bill's visit with me? No, of course not. It was the unfolding of a God story. It was a gentle reminder that God is in our midst. Which, not so incidentally, is what Christmas is all about. We celebrate the birth of our Savior and Messiah.
