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 A blog of no uncertain musings. What goes on in my mind is often a source of wonder to me. |
| I play guitar. Well, I play, insofar as my fingers allow me. I still have all ten, but over the more than 33 years of woodworking and close calls with equipment, several fingers were contorted, twisted, bent and bowed. They healed in a somewhat crooked manner. But I still play. Tonight is Christmas Eve. Jeanette plays the organ at her church. I'll join her for a special music duet of Mary, Did You Know with my guitar. The group, Pentatonix, certainly has nothing to fear from us. I bring this up because, for as long as I can remember, I've played Silent Night on guitar for every Christmas Eve service I've attended, no matter where that has been. This beloved Christmas carol was first played on a guitar. It was the year of our Lord 1818. Flooding at the at the Nikolauskirche, the parish church of Oberndorf, located in present day Austria, had damaged the church organ. There would be no music for the Christmas Eve service. Father Joseph Mohr went to the church's organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, and asked him to compose some music for a poem he'd written two years before called "Stille Nacht." Gruber did so using a guitar. Silent Night was first played for that Christmas Eve service in 1818. Almost 200 years later, in 2011, Silent Night was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO for its global cultural significance and universal message of peace. It has been translated into more than 300 languages. Merry Christmas to all! |
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