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| Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria, |
It is traditional (since 2007!) for the Blog to have a little musical item
coming up to Christmas and this provides an opportunity for an Irish atheist to
concede that the Devil does not have all the best tunes! Indeed music and Xmas
tend to go together in Dublin which reprises that great Xmas staple Handel’s
Messiah which was first performed in Dublin. Handel's Messiah (HWV 56) was
first performed in the "Antient Musik Hall" in Fishamble Street,
Dublin in a gala in aid of the Foundling Hospital.
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| George Frideric Handel |
This is an oratorio by
George Frideric Handel based on a libretto by Charles Jennens. Composed in the
summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin on the 13 April 1742, Messiah is
Handel's most famous creation and is among the most popular works in Western
choral literature. The very well-known "Hallelujah" chorus is part of
Handel's Messiah. What is also notable about the billboard for the Dublin
premiere was that, due to space restrictions it requested; "Ladies are requested not to
wear hoops and Gentlemen are requested not to wear swords."
Another Xmas staple in several languages is “Silent Night.” Silent
Night was written on Christmas Eve in 1818 in Oberndorf, Austria. It was a poem
written in German by an Austrian priest named Father Joseph Mohr. By 1955
Silent Night had become the most recorded song in all history. The original
lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei
Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed
by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber.
The carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church
of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria, on December 24, 1818. Mohr had composed
the words two years earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to
Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the
Midnight Mass.
In his written account regarding the composition of the
carols, Gruber gives no mention of the specific inspiration for creating the
song. According to the song's history provided by Austria's Silent Night Society,
one supposition is that the church organ was no longer working so that Mohr and
Gruber therefore created a song for accompaniment by guitar.
A popular story claims that the carol, once performed, was
promptly forgotten until an organ repairman found the manuscript in 1825 and
revived it. However, Gruber published various arrangements of it throughout his
lifetime and we now have the Mohr arrangement (ca. 1820) that is kept at the
Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg, Austria. The carol has been translated
into over 44 languages. It is sometimes sung without musical accompaniment. The
song was sung simultaneously in French, English and German by troops during the
World War I Christmas truce of 1914, as it was one of the few carols that
soldiers on both sides of the front line knew.
Silent Night
Silent night, night of God's son.
Soundly in slumber, the pair together,
The pair and love, watching with affection,
The small bright beautiful child Darling one
Christ, calmly asleep,
Christ, calmly asleep.
Silent night, night of God's son.
Shepherds first heard the tale,
The angels crying out Alleluia.
Lovely chanting near and far.
Christ, the saviour himself,
Christ, the saviour himself.
Silent night, night of God's son.
God's Son with a smile on his face
A sign spoken to be fully understood
The sweet voice of an angel heard in the air
Christ is coming into the world,
Christ is coming into the world.
My favourite version is that sung in Gaelic by Enya, in the
video below which is from the crypt of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin. This is a Norman foundation but is built at
the centre of the ancient Viking city on a hill overlooking the Dubh Linn, the
Black Pool, where the Vikings moored their longboats and which gives the city
its English name, Dublin. It is sometimes forgotten that Dublin is an older
Viking city than Oslo. When the Normans came they built their church on the
highest point and the Irish and Vikings had to stay outside the city walls –
the Irish to Irishtown and the Vikings north of the river in Oxmantown, from the
Oestmen, people from the East. They are both still districts of Dublin to this
day. The crypt contains the tomb of the first Norman King of Dublin, Richard of
Pembroke, known as Strongbow.
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| Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin |
It was his daughter Isolde who gives us the great medieval
love story of Tristram and Isolde. It is the tragic story of the adulterous
love between the Cornish knight Tristram and the Irish princess Isolde. The
narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot
and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art, the idea of
romantic love and literature since it first appeared in the 12th century.
Isolde eventually returned to Dublin and founded a nunnery where she lived out
her years. This place was known in Gaelic as Séipéal Iosóid, (meaning
"Isolde's Chapel") and it is a picturesque Irish village preserved
within the city of Dublin in the wooded valley of the River Liffey, on the way
to the slopes of the Strawberry Beds, below the Phoenix Park. It is known by
the phonetic transliteration of Chapelizod in English.
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| Strongbow's Tomb |
In Dublin the tradition is to welcome in the New Year by
gathering at the centre of the Old Viking City at Christchurch Cathedral to
hear the bells at midnight. The twelve bells of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin,
date back to 1738, and are rung twice every Sunday and also peal on special
occasions such as the inauguration of the President. Enya is a nickname, the diminutive of Eithne from
her name in Gaelic, Eithne Ní Bhraonáin. She comes from a musical family from
Gweedore in the Gaelic speaking area of Donegal and her father Leo Brennan runs
Leo’s Tavern in the village. Eithne still sings in her mother's choir every
Christmas at midnight Mass, at St. Mary's Church. Some of her other siblings form the
band Clannad which she was part of before leaving in 1982 to embark on her hugely
successful solo career. She lives in a mock Victorian Castle in Killiney Co. Dublin
within bombast distance of a friend’s Martello Tower in Killiney Co. Dublin.
I would bump into Eithne in Dublin, usually in a suitably
disreputable night club called Suzy Streets in Leeson Street, in the 80’s. The
media try to portray her as somebody odd but nothing could be further from the
truth. She is an entirely straightforward person who has achieved great success
but has looked after herself and never lost control. For her the music is the
product, she is not, and she keeps them both separate and values her privacy.
Don’t expect to find her on Twitter or in the gossip columns any time soon.
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| Enya's Killiney home, Manderley Castle formerly "Victoria Castle" and "Ayesha Castle", |
Silent Night – In Gaelic
Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Cách 'na suan, dís araon,
Dís is dílse ag faire le spéis,
Naí beag gnaoi-gheal ceanán tais caomh
Críost ina chodladh go séimh,
Críost ina chodladh go séimh.
Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Aoirí ar dtús chuala an scéal,
"Aililiuia" aingil ag glaoch
Cantain Shuairc i ngar is i gcéin
Críost ár Slánaitheoir féin,
Críost ár Slánaitheoir féin.
Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Mac Dé bhí, gáire a bhéil,
Tuar dá rá 's dá lán-chur i gcéill,
Ann gur tháinig tráth chinn a tséin,
Críost a theacht ar an saol,
Críost a theacht ar an saol.
For more of my favourite Xmas Carols see;
http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/my-favourite-christmas-carols.html
http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/my-favourite-christmas-carols.html
Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Duit!
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