Two Hundred Years of ‘Silent Night’

 

 

200 Years of ‘Silent Night’

 

Memories and Music from Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

 

On this amazing night of Christmas Eve, 2018, how amazing to think that the beloved and beautiful carol “Silent Night” was written and first performed in Oberndorf, Austria, two hundred years ago.  How has this remarkable carol touched your life and enriched your celebration of Christmas?

 

As a child, I loved a music book which had a festive cover in full-color.  The background was bright red.  Four children dressed in angel costumes were the focus of the cover.  Inside the music book were gray-tone, full-page drawings that accompanied each song.  I memorized all the lyrics of almost all the carols.  The end pages of the book provided some history for each carol, including “Silent Night.”  During those middle and later years of the 1950s, I never thought of listening to “Silent Night” in this year of its 200th anniversary.  In my piano bench, I still have this music book.

 

In the late 1950s or very early 1960s, the Royal Neighbor Juveniles of Blanford, Indiana, were in the midst of a Christmas party in Perona’s Hall, a dance hall above the grocery store.  The Step sisters, Joyce and Janie, were leading a sing-along of Christmas songs.  After they led us in a number of lesser known songs from the music booklets provided by the Royal Neighbors of America, my dad, who was usually not so bold, spoke up and suggested:  “Why don’t we sing something we all know, like ‘Silent Night’?”  After a moment of silence, the Step sisters announced that by request, we all would sing “Silent Night.”  As usual, I was proud of my dad.  I was proud to stand beside him and listen to his melodious voice sing his favorite carol.  That was a fine holiday evening in our little town of Blanford.

 

In 1975, on December 27, at the wedding of Mary (my sister) and Ric, at the snow-covered Beck Chapel on the campus of Indiana University, “Silent Night” was sung in German by a music teacher/friend of my sister.

 

Much more recently, I was touched by hearing in the news that Irish Tenor Ronan Tynan sang “Silent Night” to President George H. W. Bush, shortly before his passing on November 30, 2018.

 

Throughout this day of Christmas Eve, as I have listened to a few different radio stations, various versions of “Silent Night” have been playing and calling me to write these few notes for this December 24 blog post on WORDWALK.  Whenever I hear this carol on the radio, from a CD, or from one of my Christmas clocks or music boxes, I think of my beloved and greatly missed dad.

 

With peaceful and warm wishes to you on this Christmas Eve, I share with you a harp version of “Silent Night” by the Harp Twins–Camille and Kennerly.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcUF1wUrNdk

 

Merry Christmas to all!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

 

December 24, 2018, Monday

 

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