Austria - Oberndorf

By David Ellis

Father Joseph Mohr was looking forward to a particularly pleasant Christmas Eve on December 24 1818 – hopefully including a bit of good-natured banter for a little song he’d penned to celebrate the Festive Season.

What he didn’t anticipate was a last-minute disaster. But one that instead of seeing his world come crashing down, would in fact catapult him to international fame... and make his ‘little song’ one of the most universally loved tunes of all time.

Joseph Mohr was an un-presuming assistant priest in the little town of Oberndorf near Salzburg in Austria, and from 1816 to 1818 spent his few spare hours working on his song. He also composed in his head an organ accompaniment so that he could both sing and play the piece at his church’s Christmas Eve service.

But on the morning of December 24 1818, as he was practicing his song his church’s ancient organ gasped out a death rattle and refused to wheeze another note. A hurriedly-summoned local expert declared terminal illness and said the organ would have to go to Salzburg for repairs.

Desperate not to disappoint his congregation to whom he had promised he would perform his song that night, Joseph dashed around to the home of a friend, Franz Xavier Gruber and poured-out his woes. Mr Gruber, a music teacher and organist of some repute, told his friend to sing the words, and he would write a simple tune to go with them.

The fact he had commitments to sing that day in another church and had just hours to come up with a finished tune, didn’t faze the unflappable Franz Xavier. He listened intently as Joseph sang his song over and over again, and said the tune would be ready on paper that afternoon.

He was true to his word, and that evening in the Church of St Nikolas in Oberndorf the world heard for the first time the words and music of Mohr and Gruber.

It was called Silent Night.

Mohr sang tenor and in the absence of the church organ provided a guitar accompaniment. Gruber sang bass, and the congregation, given the written words of the last two verses of each stanza, joined in with increasing enthusiasm as stanza followed stanza.

In fact so well was it received, that an encore followed, and noisy cheering and clapping followed that. The next year congregations in other churches in the Austrian Tyrol asked if they too could share the beauty of Silent Night in future Festive Seasons, and within a few years congregations in churches across Austria were singing the song.

It then spread to Germany – and from there to the rest of the world.

In 1906 a severe flood caused extensive damage to the little church of St Nikolas and it was moved to a safer site and restored to it original condition; a plaque was put on the wall in honour of the musical friends Mohr and Gruber.

Ten years later a memorial chapel was built on the site of the original church, and each Christmas becomes the focus of a pilgrimage for lovers of Silent Night.

Stained glass windows in the little 40-seat chapel depict Mohr and Gruber, Oberndorf and the nearby town of Arnsdor where Gruber lived. A Memorial Celebration is held outside the chapel at 5pm every December 24 and in the nearby Stille-Nacht-Platz (Silent Night Square) is a museum featuring the story of Silent Night.

The famous song is sung during the 5pm Memorial Celebration with a horn quintet, blunderbusses for percussion and the ringing of the bells of churches of all denominations throughout the town.

Oberndorf is 20km north of Salzburg; if you’re interested in visiting, ask your travel agent or visit www.austria.info/au 

Footnite:

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra will perform for the first time at the Grafenegg Castle Open Air Music Festival in Vienna in September this year.

A 4-night twin-share hotel/concert package through Renaissance Tours includes arrival/departure transfers in Vienna, comprehensive guided sightseeing excursions including gratuities, A-reserve tickets to three Concerts (one of them the Sydney Symphony including a gourmet sunset picnic,) a Welcome Dinner and a pre-concert dinner, and breakfasts. Price starts from $1810pp twin-share with airfares additional; phone toll-free 1300 727 095.