Silent Night
An Austrian Poem Turning Into a Global Christmas Hit
By Caroline Bernreiter
Top Photo: The Silent Night-Chapel in the town of Oberndorf in Salzburg. Gakuro/ Wikimedia
Very much depending on whom you ask, people will likely list different things when answering the question “what are the main exports of Austria?” From an economic point of view, machinery, vehicle parts, and cars should be mentioned. However, if it comes to worldwide reputation, music is probably on top of the list. Next to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburg’s musical genius, there is only one strong competitor in the run for the title “most famous music export of Austria.”
Considering its insisting presence in the annually recurring Christmas season, from nativity plays and carol singers to shopping malls and advertising jingles, it may come as a surprise that the origins of the well-loved Yuletide song Silent Night (Stille Nacht in German) were slowly forgotten and replaced by myths adding their own anecdotal details to the known facts. What we do know, however, is that more than 180 years ago, the famous carol with the gentle lullaby rhythm was brought across the Atlantic to America.
Unraveling the secret of its origins
It was in a small Austrian village named Oberndorf, on December 24th 1818, when Joseph Mohr, the curate of the newly established parish of St. Nicholas, handed over a poem to the organist and teacher Franz Gruber with the request to write a fitting melody for two solo voices and a choir, accompanied by a guitar. Legend has it that mice had munched through the bellows of the church organ so that the curate was in dire need of another accompaniment. Deeply moved by Gruber’s spontaneous composition, Mohr announced its world premiere for Christmas service later that day. Mohr himself sang the tenor part, strumming his guitar, while Gruber sang bass. According to Gruber, the song was met with the “general approval” of the audience and considered an overall success.
The poem itself, on which the carol is based, was written in Oberndorf in 1816 when people, shaken by the Napoleonic Wars, suffered from hunger and poverty. Verse four is also said to hail a brotherhood of nations, a unifying sentiment in the post-war era.
From German to English to conquering peoples’ hearts
Prior to its international breakthrough, Silent Night blazed a trail through Tirol’s Ziller Valley, where it was brought to by a family member of the Mauracher organ builder dynasty. From the Zillertal onwards, the journey continued with the Strasser Singers and Rainer Singers who performed the song during a visit of Emperor Franz I and Czar Alexander I to Castle Fügen. Contemporary testimonies serve as key pieces of evidence for the Rainer Singers’ first performance in the U.S., introducing Silent Night to the New World on Christmas Day 1839.
In American literature, the first translation from German into English dates back to the time between 1855 and 1859. Beyond that information, it remains an unsolved mystery how and when John Freeman Young (1820-1885), a bishop from Florida, was hired for the very first translation of the carol into English. Though it is widely assumed that he learned about it on a trip to Europe, based on the latest accounts, this seems rather improbable, as he first crossed the Atlantic in 1864. On the other side, rumors had it that he encountered the song while serving at the Trinity Church in New York City around 1855.
A truly silent night at war times
The hidden power of the carol was revealed on Christmas Eve 1914, when the delicate voice of a sole soldier brought a moment of peace amid the brutal fighting on the battlefields of World War I. As the former tenor at the Berlin Opera sang the carol first in German and then in English, his voice drowned the shootings until the hostile parties ceased fire. Inspired by its symphonious lyrics that soldiers on either side recalled, they started to sing along while gradually approaching each other on No Man’s Land.
Today, the carol is among the bestselling singles of all time with more than 30 million sales of Bing Cosby’s version from 1935 and translated versions in over 300 languages. Only White Christmas by Bing Cosby and Elton John’s Candle in the Wind have been sold more often.
Caroline Bernreiter was an intern with the Austrian Press and Information Service in Washington, DC.