Christmas Eve hymns - Silent Night

Complete Advent 2021 Playlist: [Spotify] / [Apple Music]
Christmas 2021 Staff Favorites Playlist: [Spotify] / [Apple Music]

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 24th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Well, it is Christmas Eve, and to mark this special night, we have one last hymn for this season’s meditation, “Silent Night! Holy Night!”

BROWN: The backdrop to this song’s creation is poignant. World correspondent Bonnie Pritchett tells the story.

SINGING: In German.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, CORRESPONDENT: Josef Mohr, was an assistant priest in Oberndorf, Austria, when he wrote Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! in 1816. The poem’s first of six stanza’s paints an idyllic portrait of Jesus’ birth: All is calm. Bright. Peaceful.

Peace was hard to come by in the Salzburg region where Mohr lived. The Napoleonic Wars had left the region in disarray. And 1816 became known as “The Year without Summer” as constant rain and even snow decimated crops.

All is calm? All is bright?

The lyrics of “Silent Night! Holy Night!” seem to conflict with reality.

But do they? In John’s Gospel, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives.”

Singing in the original German is The St. Florian Boys Choir.

AUDIO: [ST. FLORIAN BOYS CHOIR]

Mohr asked his friend, Franz Gruber, to put his poem to music for the 1818 Christmas Eve services.

AUDIO: [THE SOUNDING JOY]

Rust, water, or rats had rendered the church organ inoperable. So, the melody was played on a guitar.

A broken organ was the least of the community’s troubles when they met Christmas Eve. That year, in nearby Salzburg, a fire had destroyed 93 buildings and, subsequently, the livelihoods of 1,000 people.

The English translation by John Freeman Young varies from the original German. And only 3 or 4 of Mohr’s six stanzas are found in most English hymnals.

American folk singer Elizabeth Mitchell performs in this 2003 compilation album, The Sounding Joy.

SINGING: Silent night, holy night. Son of God, loves pure light. Radiant beams from thy Holy face. With the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus Lord at Thy birth. Jesus Lord at Thy birth…

In any translation, Mohr’s poem seems part praise, part supplication.

Belgian guitarist Jacques Stotzem performs this 2003 arrangement.

Two hundred years after worshippers first sang “Silent Night! Holy Night!” Christians still bring to Christmas Eve Vespers their joys, worries, heartaches. And, with candles illuminating darkened chapels, we are again reminded that peace is found not in circumstances but in the Prince of Peace.

I’m Bonnie Pritchett. Merry Christmas.

MYRNA BROWN: If you want to listen to any of these songs again, we’ve included them in a special WORLD Radio Christmas music playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. In addition to Bonnie’s selections, we asked the rest of our staff for their favorite Christmas songs and we’ve included those as well. So we have over 90 minutes of music collected for you and your families.

NICK EICHER: And as a reminder, if you enjoyed our series on Advent hymns, we’ve put together a playlist of all the songs we featured. You’ll also find that on Spotify and Apple music. Look for links in today’s transcript.

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