Today In History - Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!

In 1818, on Christmas Eve, the words to Silent Night, Holy Night were put to music for guitar. The words had been written in 1816 by Josef Mohr. Then in 1818 Mohr, who was then an assistant pastor at St. Nicholas Church, asked fellow church member, and organist and choirmaster, Franz Xaver Gruber to put it to music for guitar. The next day, Christmas 1818, the song was sung in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria for the very first time. It was sung by Mohr and Gruber to the music of a guitar, and they were accompanied by the church choir. Can you imagine that, a Christmas Song sung to the music of guitar back in 1818! All this supposedly because the two men had been struggling with a broken church organ on Christmas Eve in preparation for Christmas Mass; or so the story goes - and I like the story. Actually, the fact of its authorship, and of its musical score have been fairly well documented, and so have the date(s) of its creation (words/music thus dates), and so to was the date it was first sung in church. The part about the broken organ is possibly a stretch, but I guess we can make allowances for it being the Christmas season.

See:

http://www.visit-salzburg.net/surroundings/silentnightchapel.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Joseph_Gruber

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night_%28song%29

Enjoy the song when you hear it or sing it; and Merry Christmas to all.

All the best,
Glenn B

Wow, that was really very quick...

...almost as quick as old Saint Nick.

My shopping is over at long last

I cannot believe it went so fast

Especially being it's Christmas Eve

I thought the stores I'd never leave.

Yet in and out I went like a flash

and I bought my wife two gifts with cash,

And I found the perfect gift for my dear

Something soft, and warm to hold near.

Now don't get me wrong I don't mean me,

But then again I could be present three.

All the best,
Glenn B

Shopping, Flooring, More Shopping...

...those are the plans for my day, and I woke up late this morning. I am just getting into the swing of things right now so this will need be brief. I am off to Home Depot to pick up a nail gun (has to go faster than drilling pilot holes in oak floorboards then hammering in each nail one at a time with multiple hammer blows, then setting each nail with a nail set.

Then off to buy my wife a nice Christmas present.Yes as usual, I have again waited until the last minute, well at least the last day to get my Christmas shopping finished. No panic though, I know where to go, and what to buy, to make her smile. No it will not be diamonds, nor a cute muscular male slave (both on her wish list - really that is what she wrote down).

Oh well - no more time to write until maybe tonight. Have a joyous Christmas Eve.

All the best,
Glenn B