The Story Behind The Beloved Christmas Carol "Silent Night"

Silent Night was written in 1818 by Joseph Mohr and Franz X. Gruber

It was 202 years ago when "Silent Night" was first heard by Austrian   in Oberndorf. How did this simple melody, with its words of comfort, become a beloved hymn of peace throughout the world?

It's a song about a calm and bright silent night, and the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child, words written in 1816 by a young priest in Austria, Joseph Mohr, not long after the Napoleonic wars had taken their toll.

"The backstory is that the priest went for a walk before he wrote it, and he looked out over a very quiet, winter-laden town," says composer/conductor John Conahan, who co-organized theSilent Night Sing-In with WRTI in 2018 and 2019, and created a new arrangement of the famous carol. "He was inspired...the town was at peace."

It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when the now-famous carol was first performed as Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht. Joseph Mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics, played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody.

An organ builder and repair man working at the church took a copy of the six-verse song to his home village. There, it was picked up and spread by two families of traveling folk singers, who performed around northern Europe. In 1834, the Strasser family performed it for the King of Prussia. In 1839, the Rainer family of singers debuted the carol outside Trinity Church in New York City. 

The composition evolved, and was translated into over 300 languages with many different arrangements for various voices and ensembles. It was sung in churches, in town squares, even on the battlefield during World War I, when, during a temporary truce on Christmas Eve, soldiers sang carols from home. "Silent Night," by 1914, known around the world, was sung simultaneously in French, German and English.

Over the years, the carol's mystique grew with its popularity. After the original manuscript was lost, for decades, some speculated that the music had been written by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven. In 1994, an original manuscript was found in Mohr's handwriting, with Gruber named as composer.

Today, the Franz Xaver Gruber Museum in Hallein and the Joseph Mohr School in Wagrain, Austria honor the creators of this classic carol. The Stille Nacht Gesellschaft—or Silent Night Society—hosts a virtual Silent Night museum, tracks events, and promotes the use of all six verses, which in the words of Silent Night Society president "[encourage] peace and [demand] responsibility for the globe."

Soldiers sang the song as part of the famed Christmas truce in 1914

By December 1914, World War I was raging — but along the Western Front, a miraculous thing happened: in the week leading up to Christmas, British, French and German soldiers laid down their arms, crossed into each other's trenches, played games and exchanged gifts. They also sang songs — one of which was reportedly Silent Night, which, by that time, would have been familiar to most of the soldiers, even if it was sung in different languages.

The English version of "Silent Night" is typically sung in three verses corresponding with the original 1, 6, and 2.

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 Savior is born, Christ, the Savior 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.

A very Royal Christmas 2021

26days to Christmas 

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The Prince and The Duchess have launched the Royal British Legion’s Centenary Poppy Appeal!

"The significance of the poppy is as relevant today as it ever was, while our Armed Forces continue to be engaged in operations overseas and often in the most demanding of circumstances. The simple act of wearing a poppy is only made possible because of volunteer Poppy Appeal collectors who share a common goal - to recognise the unique contribution of the Armed Forces community."

The Prince and The Duchess have launched the Royal British Legion’s Centenary Poppy Appeal!

At Clarence House, Their Royal Highnesses recently met 10 extraordinary collectors, representing each of the 10 decades of the Royal British Legion. Amongst guests was 10-year-old Maisie Mead, who first got involved with the Appeal at the early age of 4, after her father was medically discharged from the Army with a life-changing back injury. Their Royal Highnesses also met Jill Gladwell, who is celebrating 80 years of collecting for the Poppy Appeal this year. Jill began collecting at 14 during WW2, taking inspiration from her mother who collected in the 1920s. 

National Grief :Death of Princess Diana of Wales

 

Princess Diana's funeral: Secrets revealed as tensions mounted over burial plans

Intimate details have emerged about the days following Diana's death giving a rare insight into the workings of her funeral 

  

24 years ago today , the nation united in grief after Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris.

And details about the days following Diana's death giving a rare insight into the workings of her funeral.

Princes William and Harry only agreed to walk behind her coffin at the 11th hour after being persuaded by their father who wanted to walk.

Prince Philip intervened in arrangements to make sure the two young princes were taken care of.

And two of Diana's closest aides were forced to create a make-shift morgue as soaring August temperatures meant the room her body was being stored in became unbearably hot and exposed to phot

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  Princess Diana's star-studded funeral: From Nicole Kidman to Tom Cruise, all the celebrities who said their final goodbyes

  

Princess Diana(Getty)

Members of the Spencer family along with Prince Charles, Prince William and Harry watch as Princess Diana's coffin is placed in the hearse(Mirrorpix)

The funeral of Princess Diana.(David Cruickshanks / Mirrorpix)

Timeline of events on the day Diana died

Prince Harry's poignant request

How news broadcasters reported death

As news of her shock death spread on the morning of August 31 the National Grid recorded a power surge as kettles and televisions were turned on at the same time.

Church attendances soared as did calls to suicide lines.

The Queen is said to have reacted when hearing the news from her private secretary that she thought someone must have "greased the brakes" on her car.

Prince Charles and Diana's sisters travelled to France to get her body(Rex Features)

Her sons were allowed to sleep in rather than be woken and told but such was the Royal Family concern for them that mentions of Diana were banned from the church service at Balmoral that day.

The Queen ordered all TVs or radios in her residence in Balmoral to be moved or hidden for fears the princes might be traumatised by hearing details of their mother's death.

When Prince Charles said he wanted to go and collect his ex-wife's body from Paris the Queen initially barred him from taking the Royal Flight private plane while Prince Harry, who was just 12, begged to accompany his dad but was told to stay at home.

Diana's butler Paul Burrell revealed he first realised something was wrong when Diana didn't answer her phone, he said: "Diana always had a mobile phone in her handbag, so I rang her phone and it rang and rang and rang, and I thought 'it's very strange because she always answers her phone'."

He along with Colin Tebbutt, Diana's chauffeur and security consultant, travelled to Paris to make arrangements for her repatriation.

Burrell described visiting Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital where Diana died and seeing her body, adding: "I honestly thought entering that room and looking at her she is not really dead, it's just a joke, a very silly joke and you can wake up."

A woman lays flowers at the entrance to the road underpass where Princess Diana was mortally injured in a car crash.(Reuters)

Prince Harry and his mother(UK Press)

Quickly we called in blankets and I standing on the chair put blankets up on the windows which made the room twice as hot.

"I noticed that hair of the princess was moving which were fans I had put in the room, and just for that massive minuscule of a second thought was she alive which was a silly thing to think.

"The Prince came up to me and thanked me for being there and asked if there were any members of the clergy there and Paul went and got the two vicars and the two vicars and sisters went into the room and the door was shut."

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana(PA)

Prince Harry and his mother(Getty)

Meanwhile in London Anji Hunter, who was Prime Minister Tony Blair 's adviser, called her boss, explaining: "I went on the phone to Tony, he was up in Sedgefield, and he absolutely clocked it straightaway

"There was a phrase he used sometimes “My God this is enormous doings, it's really big, we've got to be absolutely, wise focused and sensible."

Diana's death was unprecedented and Buckingham Palace had just a week to organise the funeral.

A committee was set up including people from both Kensington, Buckingham and St James' Palace as well as representatives from Number 10, the Police and the Spencer family.

Ms Hunter revealed there was tension over aspects of the arrangements including who should walk behind the coffin with the young Princes initially not keen.

She said: "I can remember and it sends a tingle up my back thinking about it, we were talking and then from the speaker phone on the table came Prince Philip's voice and it was anguished, 'these are the boys here, we are talking about these boys, they have lost their mum'.

"It brought it all home to us."

Earl Spencer, Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Charles watch as the coffin containing the body of Princess Diana is driven away from Westminster Abbey(Reuters)

Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and Lord Althorp bow their heads as Diana's body passes by in a hearse(Mirrorpix)

The Princesses private secretary Patrick Jepson said the funeral organisers were unsure they would be able to fill Westminster Abbey with enough people.

He said: "There was no rule book to go to, no precedent, no tradition, nothing fitted the royal game plan.

"I remember saying if you get hold of a guest list for the Princess' Christmas drinks in 1995, invite everybody on that guest list and you won't have missed out anybody important."

As it was the streets were lined with 2million people to watch the cortège travel four miles through the capital.

The Princesses body was in a 50 stone lead lined coffin and her pallbearers had to practice with two concrete kerb stones inside Westminster Abbey.

Police remove the crumpled wreck of the Mercedez-Benz which was carrying Princess Diana(Reuters)

Philip Bartlett, who was one pall bearer, said: "We got told we were going to try and simulate the weight with a kerb stone

"We were wearing metal studs and the Abbey's marble floor was like an ice skating rink.

"We went up and down but you could feel with each step it slipping and you had to be careful."

After the funeral Diana's body was taken the Spencer family home at Althorp for a private burial but what many people watching didn't realise was all the motorcycle outriders knew Diana personally having met her during Royal protection duties.