Guess what? Faith P. from Stories by Firefly is hosting this really awesome, totally fun Christmas blog link up! Faith and a group of other bloggers will be coming together to give you The 12 Days of Christmas! So hop on over to Faith's blog for tons and tons of fun and Christmas-y stuff! :)
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Sooo....I'll be doing a post today on one of my favourite Christmas songs, Silent Night. It's a beautiful, simple melody that really describes the beauty and awesomeness of that night when Christ, our Saviour, was born.
Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
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.
Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.
Just singing this song gives me vivid images of the manger scene, peaceful and quiet, the glory of the angels, the beauty of their singing, and the shepherds' shock and surprise; does this happen to you too?
Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger
Luke 2: 8-9 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear
Luke 2: 13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Here are some fun facts about Silent Night as well as some pictures (and possibly some info ;)) of the replica of the Silent Night Memorial Chapel.
1. Silent Night has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects around the world
2. The song was first performed on Christmas Eve, 1818. That makes this song almost 200 years old!
3. The lyrics for the song were originally written in 1816 by Father Josef Mohr. 2 years later, he asked Franz Xaver Gruber to compose a melody for it. It ended up being composed for a guitar, the reason of you will soon find out! :)
4. Silent Night was sung by the English and German troops during The Christmas Truce in WWI, 1914
5. Silent Night was first performed with the guitar because the church organ needed repair!
6. Silent Night is one of the most popular Christmas songs in the world.
7. The Old St. Nikolaus Church, where Silent Night was first performed, was badly damaged, so the Silent Night Memorial Chapel was built in its place.
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| There is a 1:1 scale replica in Frankenmuth, Michigan, at Bronner's Christmas Store. So if any of you live in or near Michigan, you should go check it out!! :) |
8. Gruber's orignal tune was actually more of a sprightly, dance-like tune rather than the slow lullaby that it is today! The more common version was composed by a priest by the name of John Freeman Young.
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| Oh, that's where that picture went. I was gonna use it for #7 :P |
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wachtNur das traute hochheilige Paar.Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,Hirten erst kundgemachtDurch der Engel Halleluja,Tönt es laut von fern und nah:Christ, der Retter ist da!Christ, der Retter ist da!
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,Gottes Sohn, o wie lachtLieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.Christ, in deiner Geburt!Christ, in deiner Geburt!
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Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about the history of this song and looking at all them pictures ;)
What fun fact did you not know about?
Which one did you find the most interesting?
What is your favourite Christmas song?
Don't forget to visit Faith's blog for more Christmas fun! Here's the link again: Stories by Firefly. Now hop on over and join the fun! :D
Yay! I'm so excited for the 12 days of Christmas! :)
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of fun reading through it; we heard the biography behind the hymn last night at church and I found it fascinating! I think what I found the most interesting was tat it was composed because of the organ not working. I'm glad it did break! ;)
I think Silent Night is my favorite Christmas carol. . .and right now "I'll be home for Christmas" would have to be my favorite Christmas song! :)
This was so much fun to read! It was really fascinating. I didn't know that the song has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects.
ReplyDeleteSilent Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs too. I also really like What Child is This?
Wow, I learned so much from this!! I don't think I knew any of this. :) I loved hearing about to broken organ. That's God showing his power. <3
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas song(s) are "Mary, Did You Know?" "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem" and "Joy to the World". :)
Thank you for contributing to the fun, Blessing!! We're going to have oh, so much fun. :D
Great post! I did not know about a lot of those facts. I think it is amazing that it's translated in over 300 languages; that shows how popular it is.
ReplyDelete"Joy to the World" is my favorite with "Angels We Have Heard On High" a close second :-)
Thank you Jesseca, Rebekah, Faith, and Lauren! And sincere apologies for not answering you sooner!!
ReplyDeleteJesseca - wow! talk about timing with the biographies! :) Oh, and I'll be Home for Christmas is a really good song too! :D
Rebekah - I know, isn't it amazing? At the chapel, there was also a list of languages that Silent Night hadn't been translated into. And then at the top, they were asking that if anyone knew those languages, to let them know so that Silent Night could be translated into that language! :D
Faith - yes, God was certainly showing his power there! Wonder what the song would have sounded like if it wasn't broken?!
Lauren - Yes, super amazing! and very popular. . . ;) Joy to the World is a super beautiful song! One of my favourites too! And Angels We Have Heard on High is also a GREAT one! D: