Words with Silent Letters

Practice

Silent NIGHT

Fill in the blank spaces with the missing lyrics of "Silent Night,"
Each blank contains a word with a silent consonant.
[lyrics]

Silent _______________, Holy _____________.
All is _____________ all is ________________ .
'Round yon virgin Mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild;
Sleep in heavenly peace; sleep in heavenly peace .

Silent _____________, Holy ______________,
_________________ quake at the____________.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia;
Christ the Savior is born; Christ the Savior is born.

Silent _____________, holy _______________,
Son of God, love's pure ___________________.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

The world's most famous Christmas song, "Silent Night," comes to us from Austria.

On Christmas Eve in 1818 Pastor Joseph Mohr (1792-1848) went to visit his friend Franz Gruber (1787-1863). Pastor Mohr brought with him a poem he'd written some two years earlier. He desperately needed a carol for the Christmas Eve midnight mass. Gruber set Mohr's poem to music that day -- December 24, 1818.

Gruber composed the music for guitar accompaniment. A few hours after Gruber finished his composition, he and Mohr stood before the altar of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf to perform their own work.

In Austria "Silent Night" is considered a national treasure. Traditionally the song may not be played publicly before Christmas Eve, and any commercial use of the carol is forbidden.

The English version of "Silent Night" first appeared in 1863 -- the year of Franz Gruber's death. An Episcopal priest, John Young, who was working at New York City's Trinity Church in the Wall Street area, translated the song into English; it is his text that is found today in most hymnals and Christmas carol collections published in the English-speaking world.

Midis ... German