The Age, Australia
Dec 15 2004

Familiar carol may go silently into the night

By Allan Hall
Age Correspondent
Berlin
December 15, 2004

Purists want to change the tune and verses of the world’s most
recognised Christmas carol.

Silent Night, the world’s most famous Christmas carol, is set to get
three extra verses and a change of tune after purists in the land
where it was created demanded a return to its original form.

Silent Night is sung in hundreds of languages and, according to the
Christmas Carol Archive in Graz, Austria, it is recognised by more
than 3 billion people worldwide. It was the carol that wafted from
the German trenches to the Allied lines during the famous 1914
Christmas truce in World War I.

It was composed in the church of St Nikolai in Oberndorf, near
Salzburg, Austria, by schoolmaster and organist Franz Xaver Gruber
who discovered, on Christmas Eve, that mice had eaten through the
bellows of the church organ.

None of the available music was suitable without an organ
accompaniment. So Gruber took his guitar and came up with the tune
using the words to a poem written a few years earlier by local curate
Joseph Mohr.

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht was sung by Mohr and Gruber for the first
time to parishioners at the Mass in 1818. Since then it has been
revised, edited and translated into 320 languages.

The original manuscript was lost, but Austrian organ maker Karl
Mauracher, who repaired the organ at St Nikolai, is credited with
spreading the carol after he heard it. He had the D-major tune in 6/8
time written down, then handed it out to travelling choral groups.

In 1831 his friends the Strasser family took Stille Nacht, Heilige
Nacht to the Leipzig trade fair, where its popularity spread even
further.

In 1838 an incorrect and simplified version of the already
well-established carol was printed. Mr Gruber tried to correct this
by publishing the accurate version in 1854, but despite his efforts,
the simplified version – which uses only three of the original six
verses – is the one still sung today.

The song, with its message of peace, has been made into a film and
also has its own fan clubs, of which the largest by far is the Silent
Night Association, based in Austria. There are thousands of members
who have pledged to “further the research into all aspects of the
history surrounding Silent Night, Holy Night” and to “promote the
awareness and use of authentic versions of the song”.

Silent Night Association president Bertl Emberger said: “We want to
correct the many distortions that have appeared by providing a source
of information for individuals and media alike.”

This year the association has stepped up its campaign by producing a
CD with the original six verses and original tune. It is offering the
carol in 15 languages.

The man who produced the CD, Gerhard Eder, grew up in Oberndorf. He
said he had been singing the carol for more than 40 years and that
the original was by far superior to later versions.

“It was just much easier to sing three verses and over the years it
was forgotten that there had ever been more,” Mr Eder said.

“We have a Chinese version, sung as a duet by a Chinese and Taiwanese
couple, as well as a Georgian, Korean, India and Italian version.

“The woman who sings in Armenian said her grandmother sang it to her
in Armenia many, many years ago, but then when communism came she was
forbidden to sing it because of its religious link.

“Silent Night was written during six dark years after bad weather
caused successive poor harvests. The song was born out of this time
of hardship. I see the heart that beats in this song now, and the
more I sing it the more I like it,” he said.

“The song is so popular because it has its own soul and it speaks
directly to the soul of others. It is little wonder it has such
universal appeal, and if we can reintroduce the original version I
feel the message will be even better understood.”