Figure 1.--This poster for a tour of the Petits Chanteurs à la Coix de Bois to Japan show the boys in their traveling uniform and their white cassocks in which they sometimes perform.

Boy choirs are popular groups for holiday events, especially Christmas. Both the church and secular choirs give Christmas concerts. For many choirs Christmas is the high point of the year. The programs prepared for the holidays are quite varied. A few works are particularly loved. Perhaps the most widely performed piece is Silent Night, as one HBC contributor pits it--the song of all boy choirs.

Importance

Should there be a song--that as Beethoven's most famous Hymn to Joy of his 9th symphony--is known throughout the entire world and appears without any doubt in the repertory of each small singer forming part of a famous or unknown choral society, it is the famous Stille Nacht--Heilige Nacht. Reminiscences of our childhood always include this famous choral. It helps illuminate the magical night shared by everyone. It helps us remember the magic and happiness. Parents see shining the eyes of their children in front of a Christmas tree decorated with candles, balls, garlands and gifts.

Creation

Silent Nightis notable for the marvellous simplicity of its music and the naive poetry of its words. It is of Austrian origin. The words of "Stille Nacht" were scrawled on paper in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, the teacher in a small village of the Austrian Alps and organist of the parish. In 1818, Christmas approaching, and as the organ of the church St Nicholas in Oberndorf had been destroyed by a flood, the priest Franz Gruber--in order to nevertheless ensure some music for the Christmas mass--went to obtain some advice from his friend the teacher. The later gave him the song written 2 years ago and our friend the priest made his way back to his humble cure and strarted to put on the words of Joseph Mohr a music which he wrote for two voices with guitar accompaniement. Thus was born this unforgettable melody that the Austrians regard as a national treasure. " Stille Nacht" was sung for the first time on December 24, 1818, in the church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf by our two heroes, then quickly spread over all Europe, followed soon by the rest of the world. The original music was rearranged in the neighbourhoods of 1830-1832 by some head of itinerant choral society in the form which we know today, and the text gradually translated in almost all languages.

Words

Here are the words of the originally written text and the word to word english translation that can be compared to the version mostly used nowadays:

Original German words

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
alles schläft, einsam wacht
nur das traute hochheilige Paar
holder Knabe im lockigen Haar
schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'
schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'

Literal english translation

Silent night, holy night
everyone sleeps; alone watches
only the beloved, most holy couple
blessed boy in curly hair
sleep in heavenly peace
sleep in heavenly peace.

Today's version

Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm and bright
Round yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Translations

There are today translations in more than 100 languages, disregarding for a given language the various versions as illustrated in English, French, and other languages. This diversity is an additional appeal to listen to this beautiful melody, a chance that the German speaking people can't benefit from, condemned so to say to be hearing only the original words. It is of interest to compare how the "Stille Nacht" words finally appeared in different countries. You can appreciate the variety of styles in the different translations.

English versions

Silent night Holy night
All is calm all is bright
'Round yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Still the night, Holy the night,
Sleeps the world, hid from sight,
Mary and Joseph in stable bare,
Watch o'er the child, beloved and fair,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night! Holy night!
All's asleep, one sole light,
Just the faithful and holy pair,
Lovely boy-child with curly hair,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!

Silent Night! Holy Night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon godly tender pair.
Holy infant with curly hair,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night,
Starry skies beaming bright,
Guard the Virgin Mother mild,
Watching o'er the Holy Child,
Sleeping in heavenly grace,
Sleeping in heavenly grace.

French versions

Nuit de Paix, Sainte Nuit.
Dans l'etable aucun bruit.
Dans le ciel tout repose en paix.
Mais soudain dans l'air pur et frais.
Le brillant coeur des anges
Aux bergers apparait.

O nuit de paix, sainte nuit
Dans le ciel l'astre luit
Dans les champs tout repose en paix
Mais soudain dans l'air pur et frais
Le brillant coeur des anges
Aux bergers apparait

Sainte nuit! A minuit!
Le hameau dort sans bruit;
Dans l'etable repose un enfant
Que sa mere contemple en priant
Elle a vu le Sauveur
Dans l'enfant de son coeur

Douce nuit! Sainte nuit!
Tout se tait, l'heure fuit.
Seuls Joseph et Marie humblement,
sont penches au berceau de l'Enfant.
Dors, Jesus radieux
Dors, Jesus radieux

Douce nuit, Belle nuit.
Tout s¹endort, Au dehors.
Et dans une pauvre etable.
C¹est une joie ineffable.
Au ciel astre reluit.
Au ciel astre reluit.

Voici Noel, O douce nuit!
L'etoile est la, qui nous conduit:
Allons donc tous, avec les mages,
Porter a Jesus nos hommages
Car l'enfant nous est ne,
Le Fils nous est donne

Belle nuit, sainte nuit
Tout s'endort,
plus de bruit
Veille seul, le couple sacre
Doux enfant aux fins cheveux
Doux enfant aux fins cheveux

Nuit benie, nuit de silence!
Tout est calme en brilliance
Autour de la vierge et son fils,
Nouveau-ne, tendre est il.
Dors en paix de cieux;
Dors en paix de cieux.

Spanish

Noche de paz, noche de amor,
Todo duerme en derredor.
Entre sus astros que esparcen su luz
Bella anunciando al niñito Jesús
Brilla la estrella de paz

Portuguese

Noite feliz, noite feliz!
O Senhor, Deus de Amor,
Pobrezinho, nasceu em Belem
Eis na lapa Jesus, nosso Bem
Dorme em paz, o Jesus!
Dorme em paz, o Jesus!

Corsican

Some see musicality in certain languages.

Capanna santa! Lu Paradisu
U celŒ in terra all¹impruvisu!
C¹erŒ in ari¹ un passa veni
di staffetti par da avvisu.
E la scala d¹Israeli
unia terra e celi.

Hawaian version

Po la`i e, po kamaha`o,
Maluhia, malamalama
Ka makuahine aloha e
Me ke keiki hemolele e
Moe me ka maluhia lani
Moe me ka maluhia lan

Adaptations

Whatever the country there is practically no modification of the music itself whose expressive simplicity to goes straight to one's heart is recognised in all cultures. Let's note here however the influence of the black-american gospel that produced among others an extraoardinary "Silent Night/Holy Night" by Mahalia Jackson.


*********************************************** With the 2 attached pictures there was a legend: Picture " Kappelle" The Austrian Stille-Nacht-Gedaechtniskapelle (memorial chapel) in Oberndorf bei Salzburg is visited annually by an estimated 150,000 visitors from all over the world. A nearby museum is devoted to the historical aspects of "Silent Night Picture "IMG2" " Sankt Nicolaus church" Historical photo of the Sankt Nikolaus Kirche (St. Nicholas Church) in Oberndorf, Austria, site of the premiere performance of "Stille Nacht" in 1818. Because flooding had damaged its foundation, the church was demolished in the early 1900s. The river in this photo, the Salzach (which also flows through nearby Salzburg), has a tendency to flood. For this reason, the entire town of Oberndorf was relocated to a less flood-prone location some 800 meters upstream in the church was constructed, and a small memorial chapel, the Stille-Nacht-Gedächtniskapelle, replaced the original St. Nicholas Church. 1920s or 1930s Picture IMG7 is a view of church altar, Its a bonus you can insert or...scrap **************************************** From the link ( 100 Translations )

"Stille Nacht" has been translated at least in the following languages:

Afrikaans Armenian American Sign Language Albanian Arabic Basque Bataknese Belorussian Breton Bunun (Taiwanese) Bulgarian Bulu Catalan Cebuano (Sebuano) Chamorro Chewa Cheyenne Chinese Cornish Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dutch (Nederlands) English Esperanto Estonian Faroese Finnish Flemish French Friulian Frisian (Frysk) German (Deutsch) Greek Greenlandic Haitian Creole Halaka Hawaiian Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Interlingua Inuit Irish - Gaelic Italian Japanese / Japanese II Kannada Klingon Korean Ladin Lappish (Lapp) Latgalian Latvian Latin Lenape (Delaware Indian) Lithuanian Llionnawynn Low Saxon Luxemburgeois Luganda Macedonian > Malay > Malayalam > Maltese Mam > Manx > Marshallese > Norwegian > Papiamentu > Pedi (Northern Sotho) > Portuguese > Polish / Polish II > Pilipino (Tagalog) > Raeto-Romance > Romanian > Russian > Sesotho (Southern Sotho) > Seskrato > Scottish-Gaelic > Shona > Slovak > Slovene / Slovene II > Sorbian (High and Low) > Spanish (Espanol) > Sranan > Swedish > Swahili (Kiswahili) > Taiwanese Ho-lo-oe > Tahitian > Turkish > Ukrainian / Ukrainian II > Venda (Tshivenda) > Vietnamese > Walloon > Welsh > Xhosa > Zulu (isiZulu) **************************end