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The mystery of the 'Silent Night' melody
Be honest: did you even know that the famous Christmas carol of the world, "Silent Night", was created by two Austrians and has actually six verses? It was Joseph Mohr, priest (lyrics, 1816, pictured below) and Franz Gruber, teacher (music, 1818, pictured on the left) who collaborated in writing and presenting this wonderfully simple and touching song (world-premiere: December 24, 1818, Oberndorf, Austria).
What happened was this: the organ at the Oberndorf church was broken on Christmas Eve 1818 and "Silent Night" was added to the service on short notice, because it was written originally with guitar accompaniment. The song was never meant to become famous and was only spread around by word of mouth. Many years later (after 1832) a publisher listened to a performance of "Silent Night" near Innsbruck, Austria. He liked it so much that he published the song for the first time and claimed the source to be a " Tyrolian folk song." But the performers had changed it to their liking and that printed version was not the original melody anymore. Before anyone could locate the actual authors this wrong published version of "Silent Night" spread all over the world. Later attempts to tell the world that they sing an altered melody turned out to be pretty much in vain. Here is the main alteration of the melody: the first occurrence of "sleep in heavenly peace." Take a look at the original and popular versions side by side (simplified):
Even if you don't read music, just draw a line above the original, and you can see how naturally the melody climbs towards the high point (on the word "peace"). But the popular version reaches the climax prematurely and follows it up with an ugly diminished chord progression that takes away the sometimes-underestimated power of simplicity. I have to be honest myself: as an Austrian musician I am naturally proud that "Silent Night" originated near my hometown. But it hurts me that more than one half of the world sings an altered melody which is musically not as valid as the original. If the change would have made the song better it would be harder to criticize. Now you're prepared to listen to the original version of "Silent Night" (RealAudio, in German).
Read more on the performers in this month's installment of Austrian Surfing Music. You can follow along with the original score I also posted the complete German text (6 verses) in the old Konzerthaus Café. Or you can click the thumbnail picture below to follow along with the handwritten score (it's huge - 130kb). The bottom line: if you don't care about the origin of "Silent Night" (and that's OK, really), you shouldn't have to worry about singing the original melody. But if I did spark your interest a little bit - please spread the word and help me stop Joseph and Franz from spinning in their grave. And you might want to go to this very comprehensive website dedicated only to "Silent Night." Special Invitation: are you willing to try to learn the original melody of "Silent Night"? Please come and smell the coffee in our Konzerthaus Café where we editors of Vienna Online hang out every day! On this message board you can voice your opinions and requests. Let the friendly discussions begin. After all, you, the reader, are the boss. What would we do without you? Join in, or just come for the pastry!
... what I like most about Austria? Not the mountains or the yodeling. The food!
Florian would be thrilled to have you sign his guestbook at his beautiful bilingual website. Hear him sing, yodel, play piano, organ, guitar, and timpani. |
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