Dec 6 Silent Night

Dec 6 Silent Night
http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/carols_stories.shtml
http://musiced.about.com/od/christmasnewyeararticles/qt/silentnight.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night
http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mohr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Gruber

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,
Heav'nly hosts sing alleluia:
Christ the Saviour is born,
Christ the Saviour 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.

Silent Night, or Stille Nacht, was first performed in the Nicola-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. Father Joseph Mohr had composed the words much earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to his friend, Franz Xaver Gruber, and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service. At Midnight Mass that evening, Fr. Mohr and Franz Gruber sang each of the six verses, with the church choir repeating the last two lines of each verse. Mohr set down the guitar arrangement on paper around 1820 and that is the earliest manuscript that still exists. It is displayed in the Carolino Augusteum Museum in Salzburg, Austria.

Joseph Mohr aspired to be a musician, but when his musical talent went unrecognized, her pursued a different educational path and became a priest instead. He wrote the six-stanza poem that became the world’s most popular Christmas carol while on assignment to a pilgrim church in the remote Alpine village of Mariapfarr. His assignment to Oberndorf in 1817 enabled the collaboration he and Franz Gruber shared. Until 2006, it was thought that they had written just one song together. Now another song has been located in the Wagrain parish archive. "Te Deum," with text by Joseph Mohr and melody by Franz Xaver Gruber, can be heard in an audio exhibit at the Waggerl Museum in Wagrain.

Mohr was a generous man who donated most of his salary to charity. He started new schools for children and also created a scholarship fund to allow children from poor families to attend school. He also set up a system for the care of the elderly.

Franz Gruber was a schoolteacher, organist, and choirmaster in several Austrian villages during his lifetime. Over the years, he wrote additional arrangements of Silent Night for organ and for organ with orchestra. Arrangements of the carol appeared in churches in the Salzburg Diocese and folk singers from the Ziller Valley took the song on tours around Europe. Gruber wrote dozens of other carols and masses, many of which are still in print and sung in Austrian churches today.

It is believed that Silent Night has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects around the world. It is one of the most popular carols of all time. Because the carol was so widely known worldwide, English and German troops at the front lines during WWI were able sing it together in the break from fighting known as the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Craft: Mary and Baby Jesus, star, shepherds, singing angels
http://www.origami-club.com/en/ Christmas>several stars to choose from
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/3dstar.htm