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=                            Stille Nacht                            =
======================================================================

                             Introduction                             
======================================================================
"Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by
Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg,
Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in
2011. The song was first recorded in 1905 and has remained a popular
success, appearing in films and multiple successful recordings, as
well as being quoted in other musical compositions. It is the world's
most recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 known recordings.


                               History                                
======================================================================
"" was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at the Nikolauskirche,
the parish church of Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on
the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest,
Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the
aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, he had written the poem "" in 1816
at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau
region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest.

The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and
organist in the nearby village of , now part of Lamprechtshausen. On
Christmas Eve 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to
compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for that night's mass, after
river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ. The church was
eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the
Silent-Night-Chapel. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the
lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.

According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the
instrument at the Oberndorf church, was enamoured of the song, and
took the composition home with him to the Zillertal. From there, two
travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers,
included the tune in their shows. The Rainers were already singing it
around Christmas 1819, and they once performed it for an audience that
included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia, as well as
making the first performance of the song in the U.S., in New York City
in 1839. By the 1840s the song was well known in Lower Saxony and was
reported to be a favourite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. During
this period, the melody changed slightly to become the version that is
commonly played today.

Over the years, because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr's
name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer,
many people assumed the melody was composed by a more famous
composer, and it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
or Schubert. However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's
handwriting and dated by researchers as . It states that Mohr wrote
the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in
Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber
in 1818. This is the earliest manuscript that exists and the only one
in Mohr's handwriting.

;Original melody:
:
&lt;&lt;
\new Staff &lt;&lt;
\new Voice="melody" \relative c' { \set Staff.midiInstrument =
#"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
\autoBeamOff
\tempo 4 = 60 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
\voiceOne
\language "deutsch"
\key d \major
\time 6/8
a8. [ h16 ] a8 fis4 h8\rest
a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
e8. [ dis16 ] e8 cis4 h8\rest
d8. [ cis16 ] d8 a4 h8\rest
h4 h8 d8. [ cis16 ] h8
a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
h4 h8 d8. [ cis16 ] h8
a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
cis8. cis16 cis8 e8. d16 cis8
d4. ( fis4 ) h,8\rest
d8. a16 fis8 a8. g16 e8
d4.~ d4 h'8\rest
}
\new Voice \relative c' {
\voiceTwo
\autoBeamOff
%\omit "Rest_engraver"
fis8. [ g16 ] fis8 d4 s8
fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
g8. [ fis16 ] g8 e4 s8
fis8. [ e16 ] fis8 fis4 s8
g4 g8 h8. [ a16 ] g8
fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
g4 g8 h8. [ a16 ] g8
fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
e8. e16 e8 g8. fis16 e8
fis4. ( a4 ) s8
fis8. fis16 d8 fis8. e16 cis8
d4.~ d4
}
&gt;&gt;
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
Stil -- le Nacht! Hei -- li -- ge Nacht!
Al -- les schläft; ein -- sam wacht
Nur das trau -- te hei -- li -- ge Paar.
Hol -- der Knab’ im lok -- kig -- ten Haar,
schla -- fe in himm -- li -- scher Ruh! __
Schla -- fe in himm -- li -- scher Ruh! __
}
&gt;&gt;


The first edition was published by  in 1833 in a collection of 'Four
Genuine Tyrolean Songs', with the following musical text:

:
\transpose c d \relative c' {
\key c \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
\time 6/8 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 60 \autoBeamOff
g8.^"First edition" [a16] g8 e4. | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d16. [b32]
b4. | c4 c16. [g32] g4. | a4 a8 c8. b16 a8 | g8. a16 g8 e4. |
a4 a8 c8. b16 a8 | g8. a16 g8 e4. | d'4 d8 f8.-&gt; d16 b8 | c4.
(e4) r8 | c8. [g16] e8 g8. f16 d8 | c4.~ c4 r8 \bar "|."
}


The contemporary version, as in the choral example below, is:

:
\transpose c d \relative c' {
\key c \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
\time 6/8 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 60 \autoBeamOff
g8.^"Contemporary" [(a16)] g8 e4. | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d8 b4. |
c4 c8 g4. | a4 a8 c8. [b16] a8 | g8. [a16] g8 e4. |
a4 a8 c8. [b16] a8 | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d8 f8.-&gt; [d16] b8 |
c4. (e4) r8 | c8. [(g16)] e8 g8. [f16] d8 | c4.~ c4 r8 \bar "|."
}


                             Translations                             
======================================================================
In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at
Trinity Church, New York City, wrote and published the English
translation that is most frequently sung today, translated from three
of Mohr's original six verses. The version of the melody that is
generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale,
differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber's
original, which was a "moderato" tune in  time and siciliana rhythm.
Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain, although newer
translations usually are not.

In 1998 the Silent Night Museum in Salzburg commissioned a new English
translation by Bettina Klein of Mohr's German lyrics. For the most
part, Klein preserves both Young's translation and the interpretive
decisions that inform his word-choices.  Yet Klein also attempts
occasionally to restore Mohr's original phrasing, changing, for
instance, Young's "Holy infant, so tender and mild" to Mohr's "Holy
infant with curly hair" ('Holder Knab' im lockigten Haar').  However,
she continues to interpret Mohr's 'traute heilige Paar' as referring
to Mary and the baby, whereas Mohr's use of the word 'traute' can mean
"espoused," thus suggesting perhaps that the "holy pair" represents
Mary and Joseph watching (picking up Mohr's 'wacht') over the
curly-haired infant/boy.

The carol has been translated into about 300 languages.


                                Lyrics                                
======================================================================
: !German lyrics	!Young's English lyrics
|	|Silent night! Holy night!	All is calm, all is bright	Round yon
virgin mother and child!	Holy infant, so tender and mild,	Sleep in
heavenly peace!	Sleep in heavenly peace!	Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!	Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!	Christ the Saviour is born!	Christ the
Saviour is born!	Silent night! Holy night!	Son of God, love's pure
light	Radiant beams from thy holy face	With the dawn of redeeming
grace,	Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!	Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!

In the second stanza, some English versions read "shepherds quail"
rather than "shepherds quake."


                           Musical settings                           
======================================================================
The carol was arranged by various composers, such as Carl Reinecke,
Gustav Schreck, Eusebius Mandyczewski, Malcolm Sargent, David
Willcocks, Charles Mackerras, Philip Ledger, John Rutter, Stephen
Cleobury, Jacob de Haan and Taylor Scott Davis..

Max Reger quotes the tune in the Christmas section of his organ pieces
'Sieben Stücke', Op. 145.

Alfred Schnittke composed an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for violin
and piano in 1978, as a holiday greeting for violinist Gidon Kremer.
Due to its dissonant and nightmarish character, the miniature caused a
scandal in Austria.


                               In film                                
======================================================================
Several theatrical and television films depict how the song was
ostensibly written. Most of them report the organ breaking down at the
church in Oberndorf, which appeared in a fictional story published in
the U.S. in the 1930s.

* 'The Legend of Silent Night' (1968) TV film directed by Daniel Mann
* 'Silent Night, Holy Night' (1976) animated short film by
Hanna-Barbera.
* 'Silent Mouse' (1988) television special directed and produced by
Robin Crichton and narrated by Lynn Redgrave.
* 'Buster &amp; Chauncey's Silent Night' (1998) direct-to-video
animated featurette
* 'Silent Night' (2012) directed by Christian Vuissa
* 'The First Silent Night' (2014), documentary narrated by Simon
Callow
*'Stille Nacht - ein Lied für die Welt' (2018), music documentary
created and directed by Hannes M. Schalle, narrated by Peter
Simonischek. An English version, 'Silent Night - A Song for the World'
(2020), narrated by Hugh Bonneville, was released two years later.


                           On record charts                           
======================================================================
Several recordings of "Silent Night" have reached the record charts in
various countries. These include:
*1969-1979: Percy Sledge  on the Dutch Charts
*1972-1973: Tom Tomson  on the Belgium Ultratop Flanders chart and  on
its Wallonia chart
*1975-1976: The Cats  on the Dutch Charts
*1991-1992: Sinéad O'Connor  on the Dutch Charts
*1993: Enya No. 48 on the Australian Charts with an Irish language
version of the song.
*2007-2008: Josh Groban  on the Norwegian Charts and  on the U.S.
'Billboard' Adult Contemporary Chart
*2008: Glasvegas  on the Swedish Charts
*2009: Mariah Carey  on the U.S. 'Billboard' Digital Song Sales Chart
*2013-2014: Elvis Presley  on the French Charts
*2013-2014: Nat King Cole  on the French Charts
*2017: The Temptations  on the Swedish Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)
charts


                               See also                               
======================================================================
* List of Christmas carols


                            External links                            
======================================================================
*
* [https://www.stillenacht.com/en/history/song-of-peace/ "Song of
peace - 'Silent Night' as a message of peace"]
* [https://www.stillenacht.at/en/text-and-music Translation of all six
verses of the German original]
* Free arrangements for [http://cantorion.org/music/15/Silent+Night
piano] and [http://cantorion.org/music/54/Silent+Night voice] from
Cantorion.org
* [https://www.stillenacht.info/en/silent-night/index.asp Silent Night
Chapel, origin of song]
*
*
* New instrumental arrangement 2021


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stille_Nacht