| On the first Chirstmas Eve, nearly two thousand years ago, the hills around Bethlehem echoed with song. Sleepy shepherds learned of Jesus' birth from angels singing praises to God and journeyed, amazed, to visit the infant in the manger. As they walked back to their flocks the shepherds, too, sang songs of rejoicing. The Victorians loved music so it is no surprise that they revived the old medieval carols and also composed new ones, both secular and religious. The Victorians, with their interest in parlor singing began to use cheerful, easily sung music in their Christmas celebrations. Musicians began collecting old nativity carols as well as writing new ones to be sung at Christmas. Two notable collections were "A Good Christmas Box" in 1847 and "Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern" in 1871. During Christmas services, strains of "O Holy Night" and the Messiah filled the churches. Many Victorians had a piano or organ in the parlor at home, and on Christmas Day, after the feasting and other festivities, the family gathered around for the singing of Christmas carols. "Silent Night", "O Christmas Tree", and "I Heard the Bells were favorite selections for the program. The tradition of caroling from door to door grew out of the waits, an ancient English custom of traveling from house to house and singing in exchange for food. Outdoor carol singing became very popular in both England and America during the late 1800s and early 1900s. "Here We Come a-Wassailing" describes the tradition of the waits. When the Victorians wrote new words to old carols and new songs about Christmas, carols began to reflect a religious theme and began to be used in church services. References to making music abound in Christmas carols asking that pipes, drums, bells and voices be raised in celebration and worship. Some of our favorite Christmas carols were either written or revised during the Victorian era. The list includes "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Good Christian Men Rejoice", "Silent Night", "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", "Away in a Manger", "We Three Kings" and "Jingle Bells." We owe the Victorians a debt of gratitude for their contribution to the music that's such an important part of our Christmas celebration today. |
 The background music you are hearing as you read this is an arrangement of Silent Night from Joseph Mohr's manuscript (ca. 1820) in the Carolino Augusteum Museum. It is based on the melody and guitar chords he wrote down which is the earliest known version of the song. It was written into midi format by Bill Egan. What was the young priest to do? A Christmas Eve Service was to begin very soon but there was no organ. The Salzach River which flowed near the village church of Oberndorf, Austria had caused chronic moisture to rust the pipe organ. What would Christmas Eve be without music? Father Josef Mohr had recently come to the tiny villge of Oberndorf, Austria. On the evening of December 23 he had attended a church play. After the play, he had climbed up on the mountain that overlooked the town and he was impressed with the beauty of the quiet and darkness. When he arrived home, he sat down and penned a new song, "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" he wrote. "Silent Night, holy night." The nighttime peacefulness of Oberndorf was fresh in his mind, and he began to picture Bethlehem bathed in a moonglow: The words were flowing now. He began to visualize the shepherds quaking, shaken from the quietness of their vigil by the glories streaming from heaven. The next morning he brought the poem to his organist, Franz Gruber. He asked him to put a tune to the song he had written. Something simple so he could accompy on the guitar. Gruber set about the task quickly and in a few hours he was done, just in time to rehearse with the choir before the service. Father Mohr sang tenor, Gruber sang bass, and the service had music with the new song. "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" A master organ builder eventually came to Oberndorf to repair the rusted organ, and there learned of the carol. He copied the song and it made its way around Austria as he worked on organs of neighboring villages. From him, two families of traveling folk singers learned of the song and sang it in concerts all over Europe. In 1834 the Strasser family performed it for the King of Prussia who ordered it sung every Christmas Eve by his cathedral choir. The Rainer family singers brought it to America in 1839. This site Silent Night Web has translations in almost any launguage, notation, history, and much more! |
 Tragedy struck the home of American's most popular poet. On July 9, 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longellow's wife, Fanny, was near an open window sealing the locks of her daughter's hair in a packet, using hot sealing wax. It was never known whether a spark from a match or the sealing wax was the cause, but suddenly her dress caught fire and engulfed her with flames. Her husband, sleeping in the next room, was awaked by her screams. He desperately tried to put out the fire and save his wife. He was severely burned on his face and hands.She, tragically burned, slipped into a coma the next day and died. His grievous burns would not even allow him to attend her funeral. He seemed to lock the anguish within his soul. Because he continued to work at his craft, only his family knew of his personal suffering. They could see it in his eyes and observe his long periods of silence. His white beard, so identified with him, was one of the results of his tragedy-the burn scars on his face made shaving almost impossible. Although a legend in his own time, he still needed the peace that God gives to His children. On Christmas Day, three years following the horrible accident-at age 57-he sat down to capture, if possible, the joys of the season. He began: As he came to the third stanza he was stopped by the condition of his beloved country. The Civil War was in full swing. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, "How can I write about 'peace on earth, good will to men' in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?" But he kept on writing-and what did he write? It seems as if could have been writing these words for us today! Wadsworth then turned his thoughts to God, the only One who can give true and perfect peace, and continued writing: As so we have the marvelous Christmas carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". A musician, J. Baptiste Calkin, wrote the musical setting that has helped make this carol a favorite. |
 | O Christmas Tree |
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Please do not take them!