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Welcome to Intermezzo from Interlochen Public Radio, where we take a few minutes to bounce some ideas around about classical music.
This week on Intermezzo, Christy L'Esperance and her co-host Daphne dive into the stories behind some popular Christmas tunes. Today, we'll learn about the fascinating stories behind Franz Gruber's "Silent Night."
“Silent Night” is one of the calmest, sweetest carols ever written. It was created in 1818, in a tiny Austrian village. When the church organ broke at the worst time — right before Christmas Eve, the priest, Father Joseph Mohr, asked the local schoolteacher, Franz Gruber, to write a simple melody for guitar to accompany a poem.
Almost 100 years later during World War I, this music caused a miracle.
In the early days of the war, German soldiers were in trenches on one side of a battlefield with British and other Allied soldiers in trenches on the other side. Anyone who came out of the trench would be shot by the other side.
On Christmas Eve of 1914, German soldiers in their trench lit candles on small Christmas trees and sang carols, including "Silent Night". British and other Allied soldiers heard them and began singing their own carols in return. The shared music broke the ice, and soldiers cautiously emerged from their trenches to meet in the no-man's-land between them. The two sides then exchanged gifts, shared food, and even played soccer. The truce was temporary, but it all started with this song.
This week's Mystery Melody
It's time to test your ears. Each week we have a mystery melody that we have to figure out together. It relates to our topic. (We'll make the melody less mysterious each day.)
If you know the mystery melody, text your name and the title and we’ll give you a shout out on Friday. The number to text is (833) 490-4718.
