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“Silent Night” turns 200

americamagazine.org

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Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#11

Post by tenaciousDaniel »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #3

> 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.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Carol of the Bells are my favorites.

Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#13

Post by fipple »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #8
fipple wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I speculate that you grew up in a warm climate?

Rural England? I wish...

My theory is that most people who don’t like Silent Night never got to have a truly silent winter night... which of course requires active snowfall with no wind.

Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#14

Post by cvwright »

tenaciousDaniel wrote: post #11
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #3

> 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.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Carol of the Bells are my favorites.

Nice choices! IMO the best Christmas songs have a mix of joy and something.. else. Something a little eerie. Not quite foreboding, exactly, but definitely a bit tense.

From a certain perspective, maybe this is theologically correct to have a mix of "Yay Jesus is coming!" and also at the same time "Oh shit, he's coming here?!?"

For those from other faith traditions, imagine you hear that your CEO is finally going to visit your little under-appreciated department. "Yay!" you think.

Then they tell you, "Yeah, cool huh? He's waiting in your office."

Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#15

Post by felipemnoa »

tenaciousDaniel wrote: post #11
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #3

> 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.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Carol of the Bells are my favorites.

Don't forget about Joy To The World. And it'll be 300 years young next year according to wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World

Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#16

Post by sparky_z »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #3

> 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.

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

Re: “Silent Night” turns 200

#17

Post by 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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