On the Russian front, perhaps it was a relatively quiet day. But only in our minds, for we knew that we were almost out of fuel and ammo. Svatá noc Všechno spí, osamělý bdí, věří jen svatému páru. Hirten erst kundgemacht From that moment, no one said so much as a word – maybe for a whole hour. Stille Nacht! Stille Nacht! Sleep in heavenly peace! Das in D-Dur stehende Lied begleitete Mohr mit seiner Gitarre und sang dazu die Erste, Gruber die Zweite Stimme (= Duett Tenor/Bariton). Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth! When Stalingrad was called we began to tremble though we were indoors in the warm that evening. I have learned about WWII on a much more personal level than ever before. Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh! Radiant beams from thy holy face Holder Knabe im lockigten Haar schlafe in himmlischer Ruh! Somehow some Germans were able to reconcile their Christian faith with their Nazi oath of allegiance to Hitler. If they had appreciated the special place of Heilige Abend, or Holy Eve, in the German calendar the bombardment might well have been greater that day. [1] By the 1840s the song was well known in Lower Saxony and was reported to be a favourite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Madonna was flown out of Stalingrad by a battalion commander of the 16th Panzer division on the last transport plane to leave the encircled German 6th Army. Stille Nacht! Alles schläft; einsam wacht "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht") is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. On behalf of all readers, thank you for the articles presented on this site. It was being broadcast everywhere from the North Pole to Africa. He had written the lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a co-adjutor. Carved altar figures. With the first day of Christmas came the full, awful certainty. Stille Nacht heilige Nacht A-Dur Stille Nacht heilige Nacht A-Dur Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht! Alles schläft, einsam wacht, nur das traute heilige Paar. The space is too small for me to be able to see the picture properly, so I climb on to a stool and look down at it from above, to get the perspective right. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. With the dawn of redeeming grace, This account is one of many that appears in Voices from Stalingrad. What more can I add? The Rainers were already singing it around Christmas 1819, and once performed it for an audience that included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia, as well as making the first performance of the song in the U.S., in New York City in 1839. We cried for a long time. [4], 1818 Christmas song by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr, This article is about the Christmas carol. Thank you for this listing, very nicely done. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I have followed your site for 6 months now. There were certainly flights in and out after 24th December, but that does not contradict the account that it was flown out on the last flight out. Silent night! Christ the Saviour is born! Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, That spring, when I’d been billeted with a priest in Brittany I’d scrounged three church candles that were just the right size to fit into my backpack. [3], The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf [de], now part of Lamprechtshausen. [3][5], Over the years, because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr's name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many people assumed the melody was composed by a famous composer, and it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. Holder Knabe im lockigten Haar schlafe in himmlischer Ruh! I had no idea why at the time, I just liked the look of them. On December 24th there were about fifteen men in my bunker. Many of the men inside the besieged pocket were upset by this false presentation of their plight. With regards the the Stalingrad Madonna being flown out, the facts are this: Dr. Rueber’s charcoal sketch was flown out by Wilhelm Grosse, a wounded officer (rank of Major, 16th Panzer Division, commanding the Ammunition Battalion) on 6 January 1943 at 1040 hours on a He111 transport plane from the Pitomnik Airfield before it fell to the Russians. It was being broadcast everywhere from the North Pole to Africa. "Stille Nacht" was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. Alfred Schnittke composed an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for violin and piano in 1978, as a holiday greeting for violinist Gidon Kremer. Nana Mouskouri. "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht") is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It is intended to symbolize ‘security’ and ‘mother love.’ I remembered the words of St. John: light, life, and love. Alles schläft, einsam wacht, nur das traute heilige Paar. At that time an enormous part of the world belonged to us. 145. 24th December 1942: A grim ‘Heilige Abend’ in Stalingrad. 200 Jahre Weihnachtslied „Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht!“ Historienspiel über die Entstehungs- und Verbreitungsgeschichte. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, For other uses, see, Underwood, Byron Edward, "Bishop John Freeman Young, Translator of ', "It's the Bicentennial of 'Silent Night': The classic Christmas tune was first composed as a poem, and it was set to music for the first time in the winter of 1818", "Österreichische UNESCO-Kommission – Nationalagentur für das Immaterielle Kulturerbe – Austrian Inventory", "With 'Stille Nacht,' Schnittke couched protest in tradition", "Silent Night, Holy Night (TV Movie 1976)", "The Story of 'Silent Night,' as Told and Sung by Kelly Clarkson, Josh Groban, Joss Stone and More, Set for CW Special", Song of peace “Silent Night” as a message of peace, Translation of all six verses of the German original, Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day), I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silent_Night&oldid=990974767, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2018, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Silent Night - a Song for the World (2020), music documentary created and directed by, This page was last edited on 27 November 2020, at 16:11. Silent night! STILLE NACHT Although he composed nearly one hundred works, Franz Gruber is remembered for only one–the tune of "Silent Night," composed on Christmas Eve, 1818. It got dark very early. Christ, in deiner Geburt! Christ, der Retter ist da! A little later, the crackly loudspeaker transmitted a Christmas message from the Forces’ radio station in Germany. [11], The carol has been translated into about 140 languages.[12]. In fact the German Army choir supposedly singing ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ from their positions in ‘Fortress Stalingrad’ was a total invention by the Nazi propaganda machine – the choir was actually broadcasting from Berlin. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, Whenever possible, (and mostly), Klein leaves the Young translation unchanged, but occasionally Klein (and Mohr) varies markedly. LV. Nur das traute hochheilige Paar. Das Lied „Stille Nacht! Shepherds quake at the sight! "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht") is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. Heilige Nacht! Das Weihnachtslied „Stille Nacht!“ wurde im Jahre 2018 200 Jahre alt. Es sind sanfte Töne und tröstende Worte, die die Herzen berühren: „Stille Nacht! [6], The first edition was published by Friese [de] in 1833 in a collection of Four Genuine Tyrolean Songs, with the following musical text:[7]. Sleep in heavenly peace! Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar, Jesus, die Völker der Welt, Jesus, die Völker der Welt. CU. Reuber was taken captive after the surrender of the 6th Army, and died in a Soviet prisoner of war camp in 1944. Christ the Saviour is born! When Stalingrad was called we began to tremble though we were indoors in the warm that evening. Půvabný chlapec s kučeravými vlásky tiše spí v … It states that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818. That morning, under fairly heavy fire, I had managed to dig up a little pine tree buried in the snow of the steppe – probably one of the very few Christmas trees in the entire Kessel. Unsere Toten sind überhaupt die einzigen, die heute zu fordern haben, und zwar von uns allen, an der Front wie in der Heimat. Do you have a source that suggests otherwise? Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh! Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht I imagine on the Italian front, troops all took a day off. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht gilt weltweit als das bekannteste Weihnachtslied und als Inbegriff des Weihnachtsbrauchtums im deutschen Sprachraum.Es wurde am 24.