gives us the top Christmas songs of the decade…don’t fear, there’s no grandma/reindeer accident among them. Religious Christmas carols are not the only songs popular during this season. Since the festivities would have taken place on November 10th, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that the mention of Jesus’ birth soon morphed this Luther birthday tune into a song forever associated with Christmas. It appears that it was written in 1883 and sung as part of a children’s play to celebrate Martin Luther’s 400th birthday. not Germany as a part of a birthday celebration, but for Martin Luther, not Jesus. The truth is no less tender as it seems that it was actually written in the U.S. For a long time Martin Luther was credited with writing the song as a lullaby to his children. Like so many of these carols, the original songwriter’s name of this perennial favorite has been lost to the mists of time. In the midst of such bloodshed and violence, what must it have felt like to hear the notes linger in the darkness? Stories circulate that just before midnight on Christmas Eve, in a frozen forest in Europe, several of the American soldiers began to sing the carol’s lyrics “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright” only to hear from the opposing army the words sung back in German. The other story most often associated with this carol is from World War II. For all the parents who have wondered about the placidity of the baby Jesus in the midst of the hubbub, a translation of the original German reveals that everyone is asleep except for the parents who appear to plead with the divine baby to sleep. Some accounts have the organ in need of repair while others point to the fact that Austrian Christmas Eve masses were frequently full of folk music. What’s known is that the lyrics were written by an Austrian priest, Joseph Mohr, the music by his friend Franz Gruber, and the first performance was done to the accompaniment of a guitar. The popularity of Silent Night, Holy Night is undisputed but the status of the organ at its first performance is murky at best. Let’s get one of the most confusing stories out of the way first. It seems only fitting to start with the stories of some of our favorite carols- songs with a joyful tone which celebrate the birth of Christ. There are songwriters trying to change the world by relieving poverty and battling injustice and others just trying to celebrate their belief that those topics were addressed by God Himself in the events in a stable/cave. Behind the lyrics of the songs we know so well, and even sing robustly if not so well, there are urban legends worthy of Mythbusters and true stories of great poignancy.
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