
“Silent Night” turns 200 - never-the-bride
https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/12/06/silent-night-turns-200-year-it-greatest-christmas-song-ever
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Doctor_Fegg
> Is it the greatest Christmas song ever?

I’m a church organist inter alia and I doubt any of my fellows would say it
was. O Come All Ye Faithful? Certainly. Hark the Herald? Could be. God Rest Ye
Merry Gentlemen with that spine-tingling David Willcocks last verse? Perhaps.
But sweet, saccharine Silent Night? It wouldn’t be on the list.

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sparky_z
Oh Holy Night, when done very well. But it suffers more than most when the
performance is just mediocre.

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nicklaf
_But it suffers more than most when the performance is just mediocre._

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiTX_jfUI5Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiTX_jfUI5Y)

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bitwize
[https://youtu.be/lmX18C3PBq0](https://youtu.be/lmX18C3PBq0)

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rajekas
I am not a Christian, never was, but I can't listen to Silent Night without
tears coming to my eyes. May there be peace on earth for all beings.

~~~
afarrell
Have you ever watched the film Joyeux Noel?

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rajekas
No I haven't. Seems apropos. For some strange reason, the description reminds
of of Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front," which doesn't
have much joy in it.

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mentos
Can anyone link to what they believe is the most faithful recreation of this
first performance of Silent Night 200 years ago? Would be interesting to see
if it was a hit out of the gate or if it evolved over time.

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sgustard
Silent Night is interesting (and by that, I mean boring) in that it's your
basic three-chord I/IV/V melody.

One might think this structure is only a recent invention with early blues and
rock & roll. Is it unusual for a 200-year-old song to follow this pattern? How
old is the three-chord musical structure?

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ironmagma
It's not exactly just three chords, with the chord on the first "peace" which
according to one source is called a "G# Ø half dimº" chord, followed by the
suspension on "heav-" aka "G add9 flat5 6th no3" [1]. There are some really
cool passing chords in Silent Night.

[1] [http://www.gootar.com/piano5/piano-
chord.php](http://www.gootar.com/piano5/piano-chord.php)

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arduanika
As just one more point of reference for this song's cultural power: whereas
the greatest movie about boxing, _Raging Bull_ , made such wonderful use of
highbrow music like the Intermezzo from Cavalleria, the greatest boxing movie,
the first _Rocky_ movie, in its own way, makes wonderful use of more familiar
touchstones. In particular, an instrumental "Silent Night" plays jarringly in
the background of the dramatic climax scene, where Adrian stands up to her
brother. Masterful.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxriLTLhyyY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxriLTLhyyY)

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Zelphyr
There's a fun movie from the 80's that I remember enjoying as a kid called
Silent Mouse.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Mouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Mouse)

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rangibaby
That wasn’t the 80s Silent Night movie I had in mind

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night,_Deadly_Night_P...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night,_Deadly_Night_Part_2)

It expertly straddles the line between “so bad it’s good” and “so bad it’s
bad”

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felixnm
Daniel Kantor wrote an accompanying song to Silent Night called "Night of
Silence" that's sung together. Do a search for "Silent Night / Night of
Silence".

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mhb
So the copyright expires in 50 years or so?

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LeoPanthera
I know that you’re being sarcastic, but please don’t, because you may confuse
someone who is genuinely curious.

Silent Night is in the public domain.

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ggm
Maybe just a /s marker? It made me smile at least.

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patrickg_zill
The song Twas In the Moon of Wintertime, also known as the Huron Carol, has a
similar moody or melancholic effect on me. Though it is hard to find a
performance on YouTube that matches my memory.

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Tomte
I always enjoy looking up songs that were originally German in the English
Wikipedia and compare the translations to the German and, if there are
multiple ones, to each other.

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quickthrower2
Funny how these old tunes are sung by our 3 year olds. I wonder how old ring a
roses is now.

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Intermernet
Interesting example to pick! It apparently has roots in the black plague, and
probably existed in close to it's current form since the late 18th century.

[https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses)

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Accacin
Actually this rhyme probably had nothing to do with the Plague at all,
although people go on about this all the time. This 'connection' was only
picked up mid-20th century and not mentioned before.

[https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-
rosie...](https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-
metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/)

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riffic
It hasn't gotten any better with age.

