Silent Night
It was 1816. The story goes that one of the most popular Christmas carols was written in an emergency situation. In the town of Oberndorf, a mouse had been chewing on the leather of the bellows that makes the organ work. And so coming to the Christmas midnight Mass, the priest and the organist discovered that they could not use the organ at all. So quickly, they sat down and wrote a carol that became popular all over the world “Stille Nacht – Silent Night.” Fr Joseph Mohr wrote the words, and Franz Gruber composed the melody on guitar.
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
When Scrooge, in Dicken's "A Christmas Carol", heard this cheerful carol, he grabbed a ruler and the singer fled in terror. It is traditional English going back to the 16th or 17th century. The usual harmonization, like that of "The First Noel" is from Sir John Stainer (1840-1941).
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
The words for this American carol are based on a poem written by Unitarian
minister Dr. Edmund Sears in 1849. The following year, inspired by the poem,
Richard Storrs Willis, a composer as well as editor and critic for the New York
Tribune, wrote a melody called "Carol" to which the words were
adapted.
The First Noel
Sometimes given the English spelling, Nowell, it first appeared in print in
England in a collection of William Sandys (1833). The words and music are
traditional. Most think it is from 16th or 17th century France; others claim it
never had any French origins and is very English.
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