The Story Behind the Song “Silent Night”

The organ in the Oberndorf village church was broken. Rats had chewed much of the inside of the organ. An organ repairman had been called from the village of Ziller. A few days before Christmas 1818, a troupe arrived. They were going to stage a Christmas play in the Oberndorf village church. The troupe with several famous actors usually toured.

But the organ had not been repaired yet. The parts of the organ that were being repaired were still scattered on the floor of the service room. Meanwhile, no one wanted to miss the opportunity to see the Christmas play. The Christmas play had become a tradition in the village, as in other villages in Austria. The Christmas play had to be moved from inside the church building.

Fortunately, a wealthy shipowner had a large house in the village. He invited the church members to watch the Christmas play in his house.

Of course, Joseph Mohr, the assistant pastor of the village church, was also invited. On the evening of December 23rd, he attended a theatrical performance at the rich man's house. After the Christmas drama was over, Pastor Mohr did not go home immediately. He climbed a small hill nearby. From the top he looked down and saw the village in the valley lit by sparkling starlight. In some places there was a stretch of white, the remains of the snow that had fallen the night before. It was truly a beautiful night... a holy night... a silent night.

Pastor Mohr only got home at midnight. But he was not ready to sleep yet. He lit a candle, then began to write a poem about what he had seen and felt on that silent night. A poem that might be suitable to be sung at a Christmas service in the evening. Early in the morning he had finished writing a poem consisting of six stanzas, which he entitled "Stille Nacht".

The next day the young pastor went to the house of his friend, Franz Gruber, who was a school principal and elementary school teacher in the village of Arnsdorf, located three kilometers away from the village of Oberndorf. He also served as music director in the church served by Joseph Mohr. Pastor Mohr asked Gruber to create music that was in harmony with the words he had just composed.

It turned out that Frans Gruber quickly succeeded in creating music for the lyrics. But the church organ was broken, while the Christmas Eve service was only a few hours away. So they practiced without the organ. Frans Gruber made a special arrangement of the song for two voices.

And that night, in the Christmas Eve service, Joseph Mohr sang tenor, while Frans Gruber played the bass guitar assisted by a choir consisting of several girls. That night for the first time the song "Silent Night" was played.

The organ repairman also attended the service on Christmas Eve. He was very happy to hear the new Christmas song. He asked for a copy of the song "Silent Night" and when his work on repairing the organ was finished, he took a copy of the song text home to his village.

In the village of Ziller lived the Strasser sisters. The four Strasser girls were the children of a glove maker. They were extraordinarily talented in music. When they were little, the four girls liked to sing in the market, while their father sold gloves that he made. Many people began to pay attention to them, and even gave them money for their singing. The beginning of the career of the four Strasser girls was so small, just singing in the market. But they quickly became famous, and often toured many cities. What they especially highlighted were folk songs from their homeland, namely from the mountainous regions of Austria.

The organist stopped by the Strasser sisters' house. He sang them a Christmas carol that he had just learned and gave them a copy of the manuscript of "Silent Night" that he had obtained. The four Strasser sisters were pleased with the singing and added "Silent Night" to the list of songs that they performed in their performances. More and more people heard it, so that the Christmas carol began to spread throughout Austria and Germany.

Once a famous concert director invited the four sisters from the Strasser family to attend his concert. As an unannounced closing attraction, he called the four women to come forward and sing. Among other things, they sang “Silent Night”, which they called “Song from Heaven”.

The king and queen of Saxony attended the concert. They invited the Strasser troupe to come to the palace for Christmas. Of course they also sang “Silent Night”.

In 1840 the song “Malam Suci”” began to be printed and officially published. From there this song spread throughout the world as a Christmas carol and was translated into almost every language in the world, including Indonesian. Not only Christians, almost everyone who has ever heard it loves to sing it. Perhaps the power of this song lies in the combination of a melodious rhythm with simple lyrics. The first stanza describes the calm and serene atmosphere of the night where Jesus' father and mother put the Baby to sleep. The second stanza contains the angel's news that the Redeemer has come. The third stanza describes the face of Jesus radiating the smile of God's love.

A holy night, silent; the world is asleep.

Only two keep watch, the father and mother are affectionate and holy;

The child sleeps peacefully, the child sleeps peacefully.

A holy night, silent. The Good News is echoing;

The hosts of heaven sing it, the shepherds witness it:

"The King of Shalom is born, the King of Shalom is born!"

A holy night, silent. The grace and blessings

are reflected for us continually in Your face, O holy Child,

eternal love, eternal love.

After more than a century, “Silent Night” has truly become the common property of all mankind. Even the Christmas carol once became a bridge of friendship between Christians from two nations with very different languages ​​and backgrounds.

Once upon a time, around the Christmas season of 1943, the entire area around the Pacific Ocean was engulfed in the Second World War. A few weeks after Christmas Day, an American plane was badly damaged in the war, so that it crashed into the ocean near one of the islands in Indonesia.

The five crew members, with their bodies injured, were floating on the wreckage of the sunken plane. Then, several boats were seen approaching them. The strangers rowed quickly and helped the injured crew members into the boats. The American pilots were doubtful, worried and a little suspicious. Who were they? Were these people still under the control of the Japanese, their enemy? Were these people uncivilized, and simply pulled them from the sea to treat them cruelly? Many questions raged in their minds.

All sorts of worries flashed across their minds, for they could not speak the language of the brown-skinned rowers at all. On the other hand, the people could not speak English either. It seemed there was no way to know for sure whether they had fallen into the hands of friends or foes. They could only wait in silence for the answer to come.

Finally, after all the boats had landed on the beach, one of the islanders began to sing the song “Malam Suci” (Silent Night). The words in Indonesian sounded foreign to the ears of the American airmen. But they recognized the song. With a sense of relief they went down to sing in their own language. They now realized that they had been saved by fellow Christians, who would protect and care for them.

What about the remaining lives of the two composers of the song “Malam Suci”? Joseph Mohr lived from 1792 to 1848. Franz Gruber lived from 1787 to 1863. Both men continued to serve God faithfully for many years in various ways. As far as most people know, they never wrote another famous song. Their names are probably forgotten today, except for one incident: in their youth they worked together to create an immortal hymn, produced when the church organ was broken. Unfortunately we do not know the name of the organ repairman who caused the song “Silent Night” to emerge from the village of Oberndorf and spread throughout the world.

The small church in the village of Oberndorf was hit by a mountain flood in 1899, and was completely destroyed. A new church was built there. Inside is a marble and bronze sculpture commemorating the song “Silent Night”. The sculpture depicts Reverend Joseph Mohr, as if leaning against a window, looking out of the house of God in heaven. His hands are placed on his ears. He smiled as he heard the voices of children on earth singing his Christmas carol. Behind him stood Frans Gruber, who was also smiling as he strummed his guitar. The metaphor in the carving was so apt! It was as if the whole world, and also the whole heaven, were singing “A Christmas Song from a Village on the Mountain”.

Bibliography

H.L. Cermat. History of Selected Songs from Hymns Volume 1. Baptist Literature Institute. 1983. Bandung.

Andar Ismail. Merry Christmas, Chapter 15: The Story of the Silent Night Song. 2000. BPK Gunung Mulia. Jakarta.