As a young girl, when my family had a Christmas party, I used to sneak out of bed to sit at the bottom of the steps and listen while the adults in my family – many of them musicians – played and sang carols.
I could see the lights from the Christmas tree reflected in the window as my heart secretly swooned to all those well-known melodies: The First Noel, Little Drummer Boy, Good King Wenceslas… and my most cherished Christmas song, Silent Night.
THE POWER OF ONE SONG
There is something about that simple song that affects my tear ducts no matter who plays or sings it. And I have heard many, many renditions of the song.
I imagine that the German musician, Franz Gruber who wrote the melody to Joseph Mohr´s words in the early 1800´s in Germany would never have imagined that their peaceful musical statement would one day be sung all over the world in as many as 140 languages.
Some songs have that kind of power.
LIFE´S MYSTERIES
I belong to no religion, but I do have a strong appreciation for the ¨mysteries¨ of life. I think it was a sense of mystery that grabbed my little girl´s heart on those long-ago nights when I heard an angelic-voiced aunt or cousin sing and play ¨Stille Nacht¨ (the original German version of Silent Night).
I dreamed, way back then, of singing the song in my own concerts one day. But I quickly learned that it is not an easy song to sing with its long-held notes and wide vocal range (both low and high notes). It takes a certain purity of voice and quite good breath control to do the song justice.
Over the years, as a professional singer, I have sung Silent Night many times and in many different ways; accapella (or solo voice), with a lot of instrumentalists and with just a few.
GIFTS OF SONG
Some people have told me that this song is best performed with the melody absolutely intact. In other words, ¨don´t change a note of it!¨ But in my two recent recordings, I have allowed myself to make a few changes to the melody.
I recorded it 2-years ago with a very promising young pianist, Jean Luc, who wanted to give his mother (also a friend of mine) a unique Christmas gift. We gave it a gospel flavor.
And this year, I recorded it again with the wonderful Montreal-based jazz pianist, Chad Linsley for a Christmas recording that we will release next December.
I offer both renditions as a gift to all of you who also love this song. I hope you enjoy the two styles. If you have any comments about either one, please feel free to share them with me here: barbara@barbaralewis.com.
The first is with Chad Linsley at the piano.
The second is with Jean Luc at the piano.
Merry Christmas!