Secondly, this
full version of the film will tell the audience of Mohr and Gruber´s
fate and how the carol became world famous.
Oberndorf-Maria Pfarr-Hallein-Salzburg (Das Erzbischöfliches
Konzistorialarchiv, Steingasse, die Salzach & St Peters)
The film will use the very latest research results to tell the story
of how the carol came to be written by Joseph Mohr in Maria Pfarr in
1816 and first performed in Oberndorf by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber
in 1818. Of particular interest is Mag. Manfred Fischer´s discovery
that Joseph Mohr lived in the Steingasse 31 not 9.
Fügen-Leipzig
The film will travel to Fügen to follow the trail of the song on
its path to fame. Filming with a traditional organ maker, the audience
discovers that the man who had to repair the organ in Oberndorf, brought
the carol to the tyrolean Zillertal. Here it´s Salzburger roots
were forgotten and it became part of the repertoire of Tyrolean singing
groups, who took their songs on tour to christmas markets like that
in Leipzig, where on can still shop today. To earn money the poor Tyrolean´s
sold their gloves and herbal remedies during the day and sang christmas
songs in the evening. Leipzig 1831, the publisher A.R. Friese heard
silent night sung by a group called the Geschwister Strasser, and liked
it so much that he published it.
Berlin-London-New
York
It was another Zillertaler
group the Geschwister Rainer who took the song round the world. While
listening to the modern day “Geschwister Rainer” the audience
will learn that Tyroleans where loved in all the world capitals that
had been enemies of Napoleon, because of Andreas Hofer´s resistance
to the French. And so Silent Night came to Berlin, London, St Petersburg
and New York, where the audience will see the location of its first
performance - Wall Street, Manhattan!
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Salzburg-Hallein-Wagrain
The action returns
to Austria. Because its words are so close to the bible story and
it doesn´t mention the Madonna, Silent Night was more of a hit
in the protestant, than the catholic world. So in 1854 it was an emissary
from the Protestant Prussian king in Berlin who arrived in St Peter´s
monastry in Salzburg to ask if silent night had been composed by Michael
Hadyn who had worked in St Peter´s. Luckily Franz Gruber´s
grandson was a monk at St Peter´s and could guide the man from
Berlin to his grandfather, who had in the meantime become the organist
in Hallein. One can imagine the Berliner´s surprise when he
discovered that the words to this protestant favourite had been written
by a catholic priest! Gruber became famous, but his collaborator Mohr
shared nothing of the adulation. He died a poor priest in the mountain
parish of Wagrain, where he was laid to rest next to the church, in
a grave that can still be seen today. Wagrain is the place that held
the memory of Mohr the longest. The audience will see the church choir
in Wagrain singing the Te Deum and the hymn “An das gute Gewissen”,
whose manuscripts are held in the parish archive. The only thing that
is not in Wagrain is Mohr´s head.
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Wagrain-Wien-Oberndorf-Berlin-Salzburg
Mohr´s head was removed from Wagrain to Wien, so that it could
be measured for a bust. No one knew what he looked like. Inconveniently,
for his admirers, Mohr had been too poor and to unimportant in his
lifetime ever to be painted or photographed. His skull was not reunited
with his torso, but is buried in the wall behind the altar of the
Silent Night chapel. The audience will be able to follow Mag. Manfred
Fischer´s X-ray research to find the exact location of the skull
in the Chapel. The chapel replaced the original church, which had
been damaged in floods, and is up to the present the central location
of the Silent Night cult.
The location of Mohr´s skull is in many ways appropriate because
in the 20th century his carol was to become mutilated too. There are
over 50 recorded Silent Night parodies. With time Silent Night´s
meaning had changed from being mainly religious to becoming social
and national.
The carol was instrumentalised for the national politics, even though
it was sung by both sides in World War One. In 1934 “Das unsterbliche
Lied” the first of many films about Stille Nacht was made –
this even included a relative of Gruber´s in the cast.. For
the Nazis in Berlin Silent Night was far too contaminated with Christianity
to be left unaltered, but too popular to be ignored. So they changed
the words to fit their heathen ideology. The attempt failed, because
in 1942, when the Nazi reich was at its greatest, but Stalingrad was
cut off, the version Goebbels propaganda department used in the Christmas
“Ringsendung” was Gruber and Mohr´s original.
This was little consolation to the many Salzburger emigres, like the
Von Trapp family and Leopold Kohr forced to spend Christmas in the
USA. As a surviving member of the Von Trapp family will tell the audience,
they however, used to perform the carol to collect money to free their
homeland. Their efforts were successful. So that when the Americans
reached Salzburg in 1945, it was “Silent Night” that formed
a bridge to the local population.
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Frankenmuth-Flachgau-
Since 1945 Silent Night
has truly reached the people Joseph Mohr mentions in his 4th verse
- “Jesus die Völker der Welt”
In the little town of Frankenmuth in Michigan, there is even a reconstruction
of Oberndorf´s the Silent Night chapel. The founder Wallace
J Bronner proudly boasts that in 1992, its first year of operation
“BRONNER`S CHRISTmas WONDERLAND” (Original emphasis) has
250,000 visitors from 75 different nations. It is translated into
175 languages, has been recorded by countless artists: from Elvis,
Heintje, the Vienna Boy´s Choir, to the Punk band the “Toten
Hosen”. On the classical music side Barber, Penderecki and Schnittke
have included it in compositions. While the nationalism has stopped,
this has been replaced by commercialism. There is even a version sung
by cats!
Despite all the globalisation and commercialisation of Christmas Silent
Night´s roots are still very Salzburgerisch. There are Silent
Night societies and several Silent Night museums from Arnsdorf to
Wagrain, there are still discoveries to be made. So the audience will
see an old man from the Flachgau, who sings a folk version of the
song that has been passed down the generations, but has never been
filmed before. This will be its world
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