We may not sing as often or enthusiastically as we used to in church, but the tune itself cannot degenerate into our past. The most common ode is Silent Night by Joseph Moore (1792- 1848) and Franz gruber (1787- 1863).
It is estimated that the lyrics alone have been translated into at least 140 languages.
In both world wars, the battle of Christmas was temporarily ended because the frontline troops sang their local versions of Silent Night to each other more than once. So, how did this special work gain such a high popularity? Facts have proved that the lyrics and music of Silent Night can maintain various adaptations (including truly bizarre adaptations, such as the interpretation of Chewbacca in Star Wars), which may help us explain its longevity and widespread success.
However, the particularity of the time and origin of carols also played a role. Moore and gruber are respectively the curator and organist of St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf. Oberndorf is a beautiful village, only about 20 kilometers away from Salzburg.
Legend has it that the organ of this small church broke down on Christmas Eve on 18 18. Some people say that it was because a hungry Dormouse attacked the organ bellows.
The witty organist wrote a tune for Moore's ci on the spot, which can be easily accompanied by a guitar (the singer happens to play the guitar).
The threat of a really quiet night has been avoided. However, we have no evidence that this organ has little effect on Christmas Eve.
Moore wrote this sentence when he lived in a nearby village at least two years ago.
They may have been inspired to some extent by Salzburg's liberation from Napoleon to Bavaria, but we still tend to spread such creative myths.
They serve the sacred and sublime, otherwise it may be the cause of quite common creative behavior.
We especially hope that Silent Night has an extraordinary origin, because the works of Grubel and Moore are so extraordinary. In a word, tunes and words are masterpieces of concise expression.
Six original poems (the English version is usually reduced to three) from the miracle of the birth of Jesus in each capital (Jesus, the Lord when you were born! ), for the hope of redemption (Christ the Savior was born! This last sentence was sung twice in music with a pitch higher than and lower than the tune, emphasizing its special rhetorical power: joy is followed by affirmation, and any irony we may have when singing Silent Night is avoided by the particularity of the whole melody.
It has the outline and style of lullaby, and this type of mother is likely to sing songs to comfort and draw her baby to sleep.
Shortly after the first performance, gruber arranged to use it in towns around Oberndorf. Since then, touring folk singer bands have spread to further places.
A special example is the Reina family (von trapp in19th century edition), which was brought to the court of Russian czar and Austrian emperor, and then to new york in 1839, where it was accepted by the emerging modern music publishing industry.
Modern copyright protection is still underdeveloped.
Gruber was soon forgotten, because the composer and Silent Night were called "Tyrol Folk Songs" for a period of time, and even considered as folk songs by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven.
After World War I, the appearance of wireless broadcasting made Silent Night spread more widely.
In the early days of American national broadcasting, the carol performance of Austrian/American opera star ernestine Schumann Hainke (186 1- 1936) became a Christmas tradition and occupied a special position in American Christmas ceremonies.
Later, singers like bing crosby and gene autry combined their unique, American, emotional and gentle styles.
This rise in global popularity is consistent with the rise of many other fixtures in modern Christmas celebrations: trees, cards, Santa Claus, department stores and rampant consumerism.
It is not surprising that our shopping center has become the place where we are most likely to meet it.
The philosopher Roger Coton recently suggested that we are short of really quiet nights.
When I heard this version, I was inclined to agree with the Oberndorf Memorial Church on Christmas Eve.
* * * In fact, St Nicholas' Church in Oberndorf has been replaced by a memorial church on Christmas Eve, which seems to be unintentional irony. A more striking tribute may be Alfred Schnittke's violin and piano version 1978.
Here, the solo violin played an ascetic version of the tune, and "wrong" notes appeared from time to time in the quiet but threatening piano sound.
At first, it seems to be a gesture of disrespect, even disrespect, but soon, people will understand that the ode is actually presented to us as a ruin.
Schnittke seems to be saying that the specific time and place of Christmas Eve, as well as its cultural and theological norms, are now forgotten by us.
This is what we should expect.
After all, the past was a foreign country, and what they did there was really different.
Pretending not to do so may turn ode into kitsch. Nevertheless, the desire it expresses does retain the contemporary circulation, which may be the ultimate reason for the enduring of Silent Night.
Whether we are Christians or not, we all hope for a moment of peace. We all feel that the birth of a child may bring a better future.
For these reasons, I doubt that this special carol will last for a year in our own Christmas noise. Peter Tregear's article "The Story of Silent Night" was first published in Dialogue and reprinted with the permission of knowledge. This is an ancient origin team. Our mission is: "By sharing research, we can stimulate open learning of the past, thus improving our future, education and knowledge."