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[Photo supplied: Kenneth Bagnell]
Hundreds of people spend Christmas Eve at the Church of St. Nichola in Oberndorf, Austria, the village where Silent Night was written and first performed, in 1818. |
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A quiet Austrian village is the birthplace of Silent Night.
By KENNETH BAGNELL
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 22, 2002
OBERNDORF, Austria -- After the dark of this Christmas Eve descends, the people of Oberndorf, a rustic town about 10 miles from Salzburg, will raise flickering lanterns and stroll to a small hill protected by snow-dusted spruce. On its crest is a little chapel, not much bigger than a large living room.
Yet hundreds will fill the chapel to overflowing. A brief service with Christmas readings will be conducted. Then a guitarist and two male singers will render a simple hymn that was sung for the first time in this hamlet 184 years ago this week: Silent Night.
My wife, Barbara, and I were spending a few days in Salzburg, and we boarded an early train to Oberndorf. We wanted to attend a service the next day at the small Catholic church, the Church of St. Nichola, where the local priest and organist created Silent Night.
[Times art]
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It was midafternoon months ago when we arrived in the town center. While the light was still in the sky, we walked, seeming to be the only visitors. In the chill of December, the village draws almost 100,000 visitors.
We strolled to the bridge. A sole guard in uniform glanced and smiled as we waved passports and walked past to Laufen, its stone buildings turned brown with age. In its empty streets that night we heard warm laughter drifting from ancient cafes.
The next morning, we set out along the riverbank path for early Mass with the congregation of the Catholic church. The original St. Nichola was destroyed by a flood many years ago. Its replacement sits on a low rise among fields broken by stands of lonely trees and farmhouses.
About 125 parishioners filled the chapel. The service was conducted by an elderly priest, and a choir sang refrains from a small balcony.
Music is important to the tale of Silent Night. In late December 1818, Father Joseph Mohr, a priest at the original church, found that the organ wasn't working. So he composed a carol he thought suitable for two soloists, a choir and a guitar.
Mohr gave his composition to Franz Gruber, the organist, asking him to compose a simple melody. Gruber did. That night at midnight Mass, Mohr strummed his guitar and sang tenor; Gruber performed the bass part. The little choir responded with the refrains.
Thet afternoon of our visit, we went to the memorial chapel in Oberndorf, which sits on the church's original site.
The chapel has two stained-glass windows that bear the likenesses of Gruber and Mohr. A plaque outlines their days in Oberndorf: Mohr was there from 1817 to 1819, Gruber from 1816 to 1829.
Their carol is simple, unpretentious, more of an Austrian folk tune. But it has become so deeply a part of Christmas that it seems few services, from modest country chapel to famed cathedral, would properly welcome the holiday without its lines.
If you go
Commuter trains leave from Salzburg's Locale Bahnhof at half-hour intervals for Oberndorf, which is about 10 miles to the northwest. For further information, go to www.austria-tourism.at.
-- Kenneth Bagnell is a freelance writer who lives in Toronto.
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