Origin of Silent Night
Back in eighteen-eighteen upon Christmas Eve,
Father Joseph Mohr just baptized a child,
Oberndorf’s Parish Priest then walked on home
within peaceful silence he felt quite inspired,
so he wrote a poem about how he felt;
and organist friend Franz Gruber in town,
put a tune to the words sung to the children
behind a guitar; the organ had broken down.
The Oberndorf people at Christmas each year,
would join in together singing this song,
and many years later, since it was written,
at a Leipzig market a man walked along.
He heard the song by the voices of children;
impressed with the choir, and what he’d seen.
The Royal Conductor then asked the children
to sing this song before the king and the queen.
In the Cathedral their song book excluded,
the author, composer; unknown and unheard.
On a visit to Vienna the Cathedral choirmaster,
heard the very same tune sung by a cage bird
whose owner declared the bird came from Salzburg,
where the master met a choirboy who knew the song.
He was Felix Gruber, the composer’s son who’s amazed
that the tune for these words still at Christmas is strong.
But Father Joseph Mohr from that peaceful eve,
would never know that his powerful write
on his feeling for Christmas will be evermore …
So please join me and we’ll sing Silent Night.
Silent night holy night,
All is calm, all is bright,
‘round yon virgin mother and child,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Back in eighteen-eighteen upon Christmas Eve,
Father Joseph Mohr just baptized a child,
Oberndorf’s Parish Priest then walked on home,
within peaceful silence he felt quite inspired.
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