1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Honley Frying. Today's podcast 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: is coming out on Christmas Eve, so it seems like 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: a good time to take a look at three creative 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: works that have become staples of the Christmas season. All 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: three of them have played a huge part and how 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: people observe and celebrate Christmas and parts of the world, 9 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: and they all happen to have milestone birthdays this year. 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: So A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens turned a hundred 11 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: and seventy five on December nineteen. The poem A Visit 12 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: from St. Nicholas turned a hundred nine on December Probably 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: we're going to talk a little bit about that too, 14 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: And then the song Still Knocked or Silent Night is 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: turning two hundred on the day that this episode comes out. 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: I will tell you that if you had asked me 17 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: before any of this research landing in my hand, I 18 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: would have reversed the order that I believed they were 19 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: in terms of age. You would have put the you 20 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: would have put Silent Night as the youngest one. Yeah, yeah, 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,839 Speaker 1: I don't know why, but in my brain it seems newer. 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: I don't know why. Um I think I bet it 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 1: has to do with perception that I always see a 24 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol or I have often seen a Christmas Carol 25 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: played out in old timey costumes, and that has been 26 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: the case with the other two. So in my head 27 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: those must be those must be the younger ones. I 28 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: think that's what it is. But we're going to start 29 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: with the youngest of these three works, and that is 30 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in Prose being a Ghost 31 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: Story of Christmas, first published by Chapman and Hall on 32 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: December ninety three, and this novella begins with the author's 33 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: note quote, I have endeavored in this ghostly little book 34 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: to raise the ghost of an idea which shall not 35 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: put my readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, 36 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: with the season, or with me. May it haunt their 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: houses pleasantly, And no one wished to lay it their 38 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,639 Speaker 1: faithful friend and servant C. D. Today's readers may miss 39 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: the double meaning of to lay it, which meant both 40 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: to lay the book down and to lay the ghost 41 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: Dickens was raising to rest. Then the book moves on 42 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: to the relatively un Christmas e opening line of Marley 43 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: was dead to begin with, there is no doubt whatsoever 44 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: about that. Then it introduces Ebenezer Scrooge quote a tight 45 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: fisted hand at the grindstone, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, 46 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 1: covetous old center. There's also his jolly and kind hearted 47 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 1: nephew Fred, his ill treated employee, Bob Cratchett, cratch its son, 48 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: Tiny Tim, and the ghosts of Marley and the spirits 49 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: of Christmas past, present and yet to come. The story, 50 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: of course, follows Scrooge as he becomes a kinder and 51 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: more generous person through the intervention of all these spirits. 52 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: God bless us everyone. A Christmas Carol is commonly named 53 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: as one of the best selling books of all time, 54 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: but because of its age, that's actually pretty tricky to confirm, 55 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: and at this point there are also hundreds and hundreds 56 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: of adaptations across many genres and many types of media. 57 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: You can see flickers of it in everything from It's 58 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: a Wonderful Life to How the grinchtul Christmas and none 59 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: of this colossal popularity is New. When it was first 60 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: published in eighteen forty three, its first run of six 61 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: thousand copies sold out in just a week, and within 62 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: two months of its debut, eight different dramatic versions were 63 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: already being staged. But Charles Dickens didn't originally set out 64 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: to write a book when he wrote a Christmas Carol, 65 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: his original intent was a pamphlet. Earlier, in eighteen forty three, 66 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: he had read a report on child labor in Britain, 67 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: and he had also visited what he described as a 68 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: ragged school. Urbanization, industrialization and the eighteen thirty four Poor 69 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: Laws had all combined to create a system of really 70 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: devastating poverty in nineteenth century England. Conditions at a lot 71 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: of the factories were just appalling, and children employed in 72 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: the factories frequently did exhausting and dangerous work. This whole 73 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: system was also set up so that the poor were 74 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: forced to go work in workhouses, but the conditions at 75 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: those workhouses were so terrible into humanizing, that people would 76 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: do anything rather than to go there. Dickens thoughts on 77 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: all of this were certainly influenced by his own lived experience. 78 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: When he was a child, his father was placed in 79 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: a debtor's prison over an unpaid bakery bill. Dickens had 80 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: to leave school and work in a bootblacking factory. So 81 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,160 Speaker 1: Dickens wanted to do something about all of this, and 82 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: he initially planned a pamphlet called an Appeal to the 83 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: People of England on Behalf of the poor Man's Child, 84 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: but he quickly decided that work of fiction might do 85 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: a better job of getting his point across than a pamphlet. Wood. 86 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: He also had a practical motivation to write a book 87 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: instead of a pamphlet. He flat out needed money. He 88 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: had just come back from a tour of the US 89 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: where he had been treated like a celebrity, but he 90 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: hadn't earned very much, so he needed to write a 91 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: work that would sell, and that meant a book, not 92 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: a pamphlet. He cranked out a Christmas Carol over just 93 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: a couple of months of writing, while also working on 94 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 1: the Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit as a serial. 95 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: He's described as basically the most famous writer living at 96 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: that moment. And so he went on this whole tour 97 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: of the US and Canada and was just hailed everywhere 98 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: that he went, but did not earn money. Off of it. 99 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: A Christmas Carol really synthesizes a lot that was going 100 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: on at the time that it was written. There's the 101 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: Victorian fascination with ghosts and the supernatural, the horrors of 102 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: poverty and morality. The character of Ebenezer Scrooge really embodies 103 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: commonly held attitudes towards the poor, seeing them as a 104 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: burden on society who just deserved the cruelties and degradations 105 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: of the workhouse. The celebration of Christmas in Britain was 106 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: also shifting during this time. Christmas trees, turkey dinners, decorating 107 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: with evergreens, gifts, and greeting cards were all becoming more 108 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: and more popular. So A Christmas Carol both reflected and 109 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 1: reinforced the Victorian idea of how to celebrate Christmas. It's 110 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: also credited with popularizing Merry Christmas as a Christmas greeting 111 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: and with the idea that there should be snow at Christmas. 112 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: Even though A Christmas Carol was an instant bestseller, Dickens 113 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: did not make nearly as much money with it as 114 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: he hoped, and this was mostly because of his own decisions. 115 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: He wanted this book to be really nice with fancy 116 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: gilded bindings and woodcuts and edgings and extravagant lettering. All 117 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: that stuff cost money. He even made last it changes 118 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: to the title and in pages of the books because 119 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: he wasn't satisfied with the original versions. All of this 120 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: was very expensive and cut very deeply into his profits. 121 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: That entire first printing only netted two thirty pounds, and 122 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: that was a fraction of the thousand pounds that he 123 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: had hoped to make off of this book. In its 124 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: first year, A Christmas Carol sold fifteen thousand copies, and 125 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: even after that he still was not anywhere close to 126 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: that thousand pound mark. It's like he needed a business 127 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: manager to explain, like how the ballance of of profit 128 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: works um And while the book was not a financial 129 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: success at all, it was incredibly well received. It was 130 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: nicknamed a new gospel. William make Peace. Thackeray described it 131 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: as quote a national benefit and to every man and 132 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: woman who reads it a personal kindness. It also appears 133 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: to have inspired exactly the kind of charitable mindset that 134 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Dickens had hoped that it would when he just decided 135 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: to write it. The following spring, Gentleman's Magazine reported quote, 136 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: more extensive kindness has been dispensed to those who are 137 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: in want at the present season than at any preceding one. 138 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: Later on, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote to a friend that 139 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: after reading this book he wanted to quote go out 140 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: and comfort someone. And he insisted in the same letter 141 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: that the idea of not handing out money to people 142 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: who needed it was just nonsense. On top of all that, 143 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: a Christmas Carol launched the genre of Christmas books, It 144 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: also popularized the genre of Christmas ghost stories, although the 145 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: British tradition of telling ghost stories around a fire in 146 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: winter definitely predates Dickens's work. Dickenspace this disparity between how 147 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: his book was received and how much money he made 148 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: off of it with a lot of frustration. He summed 149 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: up his chagrin in a letter saying, quote, what a 150 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: wonderful thing it is that such a great success should 151 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: occasion me such intolerable anxiety and disappointment. It took him 152 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: more than ten years after this book came out to 153 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: really get on stable financial footing. At the same time, 154 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: though he was genuinely glad that it inspired such a 155 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: wave of seasonal goodwill and really spread the idea that 156 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: employers had a duty not to be completely horrible to 157 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: their employees. I don't know why that tickles me, but 158 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: it does. Uh. Today, Dickens's original handwritten manuscript of a 159 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol is at the Morgan Library and Museum in 160 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: New York City, and they put it on display there 161 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: every Christmas season. I don't think I have been at 162 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: the Morgan at exactly the time when they're showing it. 163 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: But when I realized that, I was like, do I 164 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: need to go to New York between now at the 165 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: end of the year. I don't think I do. We 166 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: will get into our next little piece of culture after 167 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. People may know our next subject, 168 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: which is the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas by 169 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,679 Speaker 1: another name The Night Before Christmas. A Visit from St. 170 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: Nicholas is sometimes also called an Account of a Visit 171 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: from St. Nicholas, and it was first published in The 172 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: Troy Sentinel of Troy, New York on December eighteen, twenty three. 173 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: This is the one that starts twas the Night before 174 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: Christmas went all through the house, not a creature was stirring, 175 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: not even a mouse. The narrator and his wife and 176 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: the story are settling in Forbid when St. Nicholas arrives 177 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: in a miniature sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. In 178 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: the first printing, they were named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, comment, Cupid, Dunder, 179 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: and Blixum not blitzen. Uh. St Nicholas, not Honor is 180 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: described as chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf. 181 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: He comes down the chimney with a bound. He fills 182 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: all the stockings with presents, and then he goes back 183 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: up the chimney before flying away, exclaiming Happy Christmas to 184 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: all and to all a good night. Similarly to how 185 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: a Christmas carol really reinforced and spread the way that 186 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: the Victorians were celebrating Christmas, this poem how a huge 187 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: effect on how people think about Christmas, especially St. Nick. 188 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 1: Among other things, a visit from St. Nicholas really cemented 189 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: jolly old St. Nick as this rotund and laughing person 190 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: with twinkling eyes and a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer 191 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: who comes into people's homes by sliding down the chimney. 192 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: That's not the first ever appearance of sliding down the chimney, 193 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: but it did really popularize all of that. And then 194 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: they're also the sugar plums, which went on to become 195 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: a prominent part of the Nutcracker suite in eight after 196 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,960 Speaker 1: that first appearance of the poem, in eighty three, the 197 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: Troy Sentinel reprinted a Visit from St. Nicholas every year, 198 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: still anonymously. Over the years, it went through various edits, 199 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: mostly related to changes in spelling. For example, in earlier 200 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: editions of the poem, the narrator sprung from the bed, 201 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: but later he sprang, and of course dunder and Blixum 202 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: became dunder Mifflin. No, I'm kidding became Donner and blitzen Uh. 203 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: The poem was picked up in other public as well. 204 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,319 Speaker 1: As this poem grew in popularity, people started writing into 205 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: the Troy Sentinel to talk about or to ask about, 206 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: who the author was. In eighteen nine, the paper printed 207 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: that they could only say that it was someone quote 208 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: by birth and residence to the city of New York, 209 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 1: and that he is a gentleman of more merit as 210 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: a scholar and a writer than many of more noisy pretensions. 211 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: Then in eighteen thirty seven, Charles Fenno. Hoffman published a 212 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: book called New York Book of Poetry, in which he 213 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: named the author of a Visit from St. Nicholas as 214 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: his friend, Clement Clark More. More was a scholar and 215 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: a professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, 216 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: where he taught subjects such as Hebrew and Greek literature. 217 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: His other works included a two volume compendious lexicon of 218 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 1: the Hebrew language. At first, More didn't really acknowledge Hoffman's 219 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: claim that he had written a Visit from St. Nicholas, 220 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: but in eighteen forty four he included the work in 221 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: an antiology of his poetry. He said that he had 222 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: written it for his children back in eighteen twenty two, 223 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: and that he had never intended for it to be 224 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: made public outside their family at all. The most common 225 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: explanation for how it came to be in the pages 226 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: of the Troy Sentinel was that a family friend named 227 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,200 Speaker 1: Sarah Harriet Butler had visited that Christmas of eighteen twenty 228 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: two and taken a copy of this family poem home 229 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: with her, and then sent it to the Sentinel the 230 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: following year without telling more about it. In eighteen sixty two, 231 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: the librarian of the New York Historical Society asked More 232 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: to handwrite a copy of it for their collections, and 233 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: he did. You can see a scan of it online 234 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,479 Speaker 1: at the New York Historical Society Museum and Library website. 235 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: At the time, the Society's librarian noted that when they 236 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: were discussing this request for a manuscript, Moore said his 237 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,839 Speaker 1: inspiration for his depiction of St. Nick was quote, a 238 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: portly rubicund Dutchman living in the neighborhood. He wrote out 239 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: other copies the poem on request as well. However, there's 240 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: also a competing claim to the authorship of a visit 241 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:11,199 Speaker 1: from St. Nicholas. Descendants of Major Henry Livingston Jr. Had 242 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 1: said that he, not More, was the one who wrote 243 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: the poem all the way back in roughly eighteen o eight, 244 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: a few years after the eighteen forty four anthology of 245 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: Moore's poetry came out, the Livingstone's learned about it, and 246 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: various members of the family started writing to each other 247 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: about how Moore was taking credit for their father or 248 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: grandfather's poem, depending on who was doing the writing, But 249 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: they didn't really go public with their allegations until the 250 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: early nineteen hundreds. By that point, all they really had 251 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: to go on with this claim was their family lore. 252 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: The family members who had said they had personal memories 253 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: of it had all died, and then Livingston himself had 254 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: been dead for sixteen years when Moore's anthology came out, 255 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: So even when that anthology came out, they could not 256 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: just go ask him, hey, is this the poem that 257 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: you wrote? There is no original handwritten copy of a 258 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: visit from St. Nicholas from eighteen o eight or eighteen 259 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,239 Speaker 1: twenty two. The Livingston family said they had a manuscript 260 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: with handwritten notes, but that it was destroyed in a 261 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: fire around eighteen fifty nine. So this has spawned a 262 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: debate over who should actually get credit. Moore's supporters have 263 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: pointed out that the Troy Sentinel described the poet as 264 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: a scholar from New York City. More was a scholar 265 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: and was born in New York City, and when this 266 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: poem was first published, he was living in an estate 267 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: in Chelsea, Manhattan. Livingstone, on the other hand, was neither 268 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: a scholar nor from New York City. He was sort 269 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: of a gentleman farmer living in Poughkeepsie, roughly eighty miles 270 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: or a hundred and twenty nine kilometers north of New 271 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: York City. More supporters also questioned why More would take 272 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: credit for the poem if he didn't write it, going 273 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: so far as to write out copies for historical collections, 274 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: especially since he seemed kind of embarrassed that it had 275 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: even been published in the first place. More, as a detractor, 276 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: on the other hand, have contended that he was too 277 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: preachy and cranky to have written such a lighthearted poem, 278 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: and also that he hated children. They've also noted that 279 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: Moore's family members gave three completely different stories about what 280 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: inspired him to write it. One was that it was 281 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: written to cheer up a sun after he was thrown 282 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: from a horse and broke his leg. Another was that 283 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: he wrote it after having to go out on Christmas 284 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: Eve to find a turkey after the butcher didn't deliver their's, 285 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: And the last was that it was written after hearing 286 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: the bells jingling on his horse while traveling to his 287 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: Chelsea estate by slay. So they point to the existence 288 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: of these three disparate stories as a sign that none 289 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: of them are true. Some of those spelling changes made 290 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: to the poem over the years have also been brought 291 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: up as evidence that Moore did not write it, especially 292 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: dunder and blix Um to donner and Blitzen. Dunder and 293 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: Blixum is supposedly derived from the Dutch words for thunder 294 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: and lightning, and Livingstone spoke Dutch. However, Moore spoke German, 295 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: and donner und blitz is German for thunder and lightning. Ye, 296 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: dunder and donna are really the words for thunder. Neither 297 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: blicks him nor blitz in is exactly the word for lightning. 298 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: It's close in those two languages. Moore's detractors have also 299 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: brought up a handwritten note on the title page of 300 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: a book that he donated to the New York Historical Society. 301 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: The note says, by Clement Seemore a m. This book 302 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: is a translation of another work in Moore's detractors say 303 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,159 Speaker 1: that this is evidence that he made a habit of 304 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: just taking credit for other people's work, but his supporters 305 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: counter that this note is not even in his handwriting, 306 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 1: and that it's probably not him trying to say I 307 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: translated this book, but it's just a notation written by 308 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: someone else. At the Historical Society to Mark, who donated 309 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: the book today. Livingstone supporters include Donald Foster of Vassar College, 310 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: who wrote author unn Own on the Trail of Anonymous 311 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: and McDonald P. Jackson of the University of Auckland, author 312 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: of who wrote The Night Before Christmas. Analyzing the Clement 313 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: Clark Moore versus Henry Livingston question. Both Foster and Jackson 314 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:18,119 Speaker 1: ground their arguments in linguistic forensics, with Jackson's book having 315 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: such chapter titles as the Evidence of Meter, Statistical Interlude, 316 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: phoneme pairs, definite and indefinite articles, and favorite expressions, and 317 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: Quirks of style. Both of these men argue that the 318 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: poem uses language in a way that makes it more 319 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: likely to be Livingstone's than More's and Jackson's analysis the 320 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: most important part is quote the frequencies of common words 321 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: such as the on as at to that would and 322 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: some vocutions such as mania and in vain and phonyme 323 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: pairs comprised of the last phonetic symbol on in one 324 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: word in the first in the next. Jackson goes on 325 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: to state that these elements of land, which are not 326 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: easy to imitate and are outside the conscious control of 327 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: a writer after Foster's book Author Unknown was published, Historic 328 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: document dealer Seth Keller published a point by point rebubbal 329 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: of the various claims against Clement Moore as author of 330 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: a Visit from St. Nicholas, including Foster's forensic analysis. When 331 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: it comes to the more subjective claims of things like 332 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: More's temperament, Keller's response is sort of no, he wasn't 333 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: a jerky pedant who hated kids. Here are examples. But 334 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: when it came to the linguistic analysis, Caller contended that 335 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: Foster cherry picked the evidence that supported the idea that 336 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: Livingstone was the author, while discarding everything that did not 337 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: support his idea. Caller concludes unequivocally that Moore wrote the poem. 338 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: McDonald p. Jackson's book just came out in April of 339 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: twenties sixteen, so it is really new, and there really 340 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: has not been a lot of scrutiny into whether his 341 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: analysis holds up. I found one blog post on that 342 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,120 Speaker 1: subject and nothing in any peer reviewed journal or anything 343 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: like that. The book Author Unknown as much older, so 344 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: there's been a lot more writing about whether those conclusions 345 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 1: are valid. However, it's important to note that there is 346 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:17,680 Speaker 1: debate about whether linguistic forensics can reliably and conclusively identify 347 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: the author of a work at all, especially as the 348 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: field stands right now. The field itself is kind of 349 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: divided over this issue of can linguistic forensics conclusively identify 350 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: the author of an unknown work, and several of Foster's 351 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: other attempts to use forensic linguistics and criminal investigations have 352 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: been completely wrong. This includes falsely implicating the wrong man 353 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: in the September eleven anthrax attacks in the United States, 354 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: which led to a massive defamation suit. Keller, Jackson, and 355 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: Foster are just the latest round of people to weigh 356 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: in on this topic. It's been the subject of ongoing 357 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 1: debate since about and at this point. You will find 358 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: the poem attributed in a lot of different ways. Encyclopedia 359 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: Britannica's entry on the poem attributes it to neither man, 360 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 1: but acknowledges the issue of its authorship in a paragraph. 361 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: The Academy of American Poets lists More as the author, 362 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: as do various publications from the U S Library of Congress. 363 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: The Poetry Foundation confusingly has the poem on two different 364 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,919 Speaker 1: pages on its website. One attributed to More and the 365 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: other attributed to Livingston. Livingstone's biography at the Poetry Foundation 366 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: lists him unequivocally as the author, while Moore's points out 367 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: the lack of concrete evidence in Livingstone's claim before saying, 368 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: scholars today give the credit to Livingstone. I don't know 369 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: what scholars are talking about. I am not a linguist. 370 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: I am not a forensic scientist. But as a poet, 371 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: I find the idea that you can conclusively determine who 372 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: with the author was of a five hundred thing word 373 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,959 Speaker 1: poem with some computer analysis, I find that specious. I 374 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: was having a conversation with somebody about this yesterday, and 375 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:16,120 Speaker 1: I think that forensic linguistics has the potential to someday 376 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: be sort of like fingerprinting in terms of identifying people, 377 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: but at this point it's a lot more like phrenology. 378 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: So that's my uh. I read a lot of very 379 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: frustrating charts of words in their use in different works 380 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 1: by Clemettmore and and Livingston, and I found it all 381 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,680 Speaker 1: very frustrating. And as a side note, this is not 382 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: the only he said. She said back and forth about 383 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:45,520 Speaker 1: the authorship of a Christmas classic. Medford Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia, 384 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,719 Speaker 1: to cities I cannot think of more different from one another, 385 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: have both claimed to be the place where James Purepont 386 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: wrote jingle Bells. They even have their own plaque about it, 387 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: each city having a plaque saying this is where where 388 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,640 Speaker 1: he wrote jingle Bells. Over the last couple of years, 389 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: there's been a whole other argument raised about that author 390 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: or that location of where it was written, which is 391 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: that it might not be either of them. They might 392 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: both be wrong. Uh. Both cities, however, feel extremely passionately 393 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: about it, and we are going to move on to 394 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: something that that has a much clearer authorship after another 395 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: quick break. The song Studa Knocked, known in English as 396 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 1: Silent Night or a Silent Night Holy Night, was created 397 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: in the eighteen teens, and since neither Holly nor I 398 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: speak German, we do not want to traumatize people with 399 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: uh like preschool or ish attempt to read lyrics in German. Instead, 400 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: here is the beginning of the song from a nineteen 401 00:23:53,320 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: fourteen recording sung by Julia Culp Woo woo w. The 402 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,439 Speaker 1: most common English translation of this song is by Episcopal 403 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: priest John Freeman Young, who was born in Pittston, Maine, 404 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: and later became Bishop of Florida. His eighteen fifty nine 405 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 1: version starts silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all 406 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: is bright round yon, Virgin Mother and Child, Holy Infant, 407 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 1: So tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in 408 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: heavenly Peace. The original German lyrics to Still An Act 409 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: were written by Joseph Moore. More had been born into 410 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: poverty in Salzburg on December eleventh, sevo and when he 411 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,440 Speaker 1: was still a child, a local priest started mentoring him 412 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: and saw that he had a talent for music. This 413 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: priest helped him get an education, including studying music at 414 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: a Benedictine monastery. More also attended the Lyceum school in Salzburg. 415 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: In eighteen eleven, More entered eeminary, something that he had 416 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: to get a special dispensation to do because his parents 417 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: had not been married. He was ordained in eighteen fifteen, 418 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: and in eighteen sixteen he moved to the town of 419 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: mary up Far in Lungao in the Austrian Alps for 420 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: his first assignment as an assistant priest. And this area 421 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: was also where his father's family was from, and it 422 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: was where he wrote the poem that would become the 423 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,360 Speaker 1: lyrics to Silent Night in eighteen sixteen. He never described 424 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: a specific inspiration for the poem, but Maria Far, which 425 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: translates to Mary's Parish, had been the spiritual and religious 426 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: heart of the Lungo region for centuries, and it had 427 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: also really really struggled in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars. 428 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: It had been occupied by Bavarian troops, and those troops 429 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: were finally withdrawing at about the same time that more 430 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: started working there. So it makes a lot of sense 431 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 1: that all of this would come together to inspire a 432 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: poem about the Birth of Christ that prominently featured the 433 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: themes of peace, love and salvation. Working as an assistant 434 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,160 Speaker 1: priest required more to move from place to place than 435 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,440 Speaker 1: By eighteen eighteen, he had arrived in Oberndorf by Salzburg, 436 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: roughly eighty miles that's about a hundred and thirty kilometers 437 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: northwest of Maria Far on the Austrian border, and like 438 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: Maria Far, this region had been through its share of turmoil. 439 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: Starting in the thirteenth century. It had been part of 440 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,119 Speaker 1: a state that was ruled by the prince archbishops of 441 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: the city of Salzburg, but in eighteen oh three it 442 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: had been forced to secularize. Then, after the Napoleonic Wars, 443 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: the Congress of Vienna drew a new border through the region, 444 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,239 Speaker 1: and what had been its own entity was divided up 445 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,119 Speaker 1: and absorbed into Austria and Bavaria. Part of this new 446 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: border followed the Salzac River, which ran directly through town, 447 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 1: and so what had been one municipality became Obendorf by Salzburg, 448 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: Austria on the east side of the river, and Laufen, 449 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: Bavaria on the west. The war had also affected the 450 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 1: salt trade, which was a major part of the local economy, 451 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: so laborers and boat builders, who made up most of 452 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 1: the population of Obendorff, were really struggling. After the new 453 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: border was drawn, a parish was established at Obendorf by Salzburg, 454 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,680 Speaker 1: at the Church of St. Nicholas, and that is where 455 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: Moore became assistant priest in eighteen eighteen. And as a 456 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: side note, Moore did not get along with the parish 457 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: priest there, who accused him of, among other things, singing 458 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: songs which do not edify. The organist at the Church 459 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,640 Speaker 1: of St. Nicholas was a man named Franz sovereg Gruber. 460 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: Gruber was born on November seven and his parents were 461 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: linen weavers, but his real interest was in music, and 462 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 1: his teacher encouraged this interest and gave him some music 463 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: lessons outside of his regular studies. At first, Gruber went 464 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 1: into the family linen business, but when he turned eighteen, 465 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: his father gave him permission to find work as a teacher. 466 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: Gruber hoped that teaching would let him keep pursuing music. 467 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: It was pretty common for teachers to also work as 468 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: church organists. He found an internship with another organist, and 469 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,360 Speaker 1: he got his first job as a teacher in eighteen 470 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: oh seven. In eighteen eighteen, he was working as the 471 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: organist at the Church of St. Nicholas, along with working 472 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: as a school teacher, a church caretaker, and as organist 473 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: at another church. On Christmas Eve eighteen eighteen, More went 474 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: to Gruber and asked him to write a melody to 475 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: go along with that poem he had written two years earlier. 476 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: More wanted something suitable for a choir with two soloists 477 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: accompanied by a guitar, and it's not totally clear what 478 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 1: prompted this request. One hypothesis is that the church organ 479 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: was broken. Today, there are a lot of really dramatic 480 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: explanations for what was wrong with the organ, including a 481 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: mouse infestation that's really not uh substantiated in anyway, and 482 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: the fact that the organ was broken is really speculative. 483 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason, Gruber wrote the music and presented it 484 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: to More on that same day, and Gruber described it 485 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,800 Speaker 1: as just a simple composition, but More was pleased enough 486 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: with it that he decided to include it as part 487 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: of that night's Christmas Eve mass. More sang the tenor 488 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: part and played the guitar, and Gruber sang the bass part. 489 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: Very little is known about this first performance on Christmas 490 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: Eve eighteen eighteen, but Gruber later described it as receiving 491 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: quote general approval by all so still Enoch started out 492 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: as a simple song for Christmas Eve, with lyrics by 493 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: an assistant priest and a melody by a church organist. 494 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: This is what I really love about this story. These 495 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: were just regular people doing their regular work at their 496 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: local church, performing for a congregation of laborers and their families, 497 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: all living at a place that had just come through 498 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: a war and was struggling economically. And in the years 499 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: that followed, the song continued to be performed all around 500 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 1: this part of Austria. There are surviving copies of the 501 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: music and lyrics that belonged to various teachers, choir directors, vickers, 502 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: and the like. By the eighteen thirties, the song had 503 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: started to spread beyond Austria, mostly through traveling groups of 504 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,840 Speaker 1: family singers. One was the Strasser family singers, who performed 505 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,760 Speaker 1: the song in Leipzig in eighteen thirty two. A newspaper 506 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: article promoting the upcoming concert even said that the writer 507 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: hoped that they would sing stealen Knocht, meaning that by 508 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: that point the song had been performed there before. It 509 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: is not known exactly how and when the song spread 510 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: beyond Europe, but the Rayner family Singers started a North 511 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: American tour in eighteen thirty nine, and they performed the 512 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: song on Christmas Day of that year. But in the 513 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: process of copying and passing along this music, people had 514 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: left off the attribution some more and Gruber. By the 515 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties, folks were trying to figure out who had 516 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: written this song that at this point had become incredibly popular. 517 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: Word got back to Gruber about the search, and on 518 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: December eighteen fifty four, he wrote his authentic account of 519 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: the origin of the Christmas carol Silent Night, Holy Night. 520 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: Of course it was really titled in German. By the 521 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century, Silent Night had been performed 522 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: in one language or another on almost every continent. Today, 523 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: it has been translated into more than three hundred languages 524 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: and dialects. It's also remembered as one of the songs 525 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: sung during the Christmas Eve Truce in World War One. 526 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: In eleven, UNESCO designated it as an Intangible Cultural Heritage 527 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: being Crosby's ninety five version is reportedly the number three 528 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: best selling single of all time. You see that statistic 529 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: a lot. How they came up with it is a 530 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: little unclear, And of course More and grew were both 531 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: lived their own lives after that first performance of Silent 532 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: Night and their song becoming so popular. More moved from 533 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,280 Speaker 1: parish to parish on various assignments, becoming known as a 534 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: social reformer in his later work as a parish priest, 535 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: and he died on December four, eight Gruber continued to 536 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: teach and work as an organist and a choir director. 537 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: He was married three times, remarrying after the deaths of 538 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: his first and second wives. He also had at least 539 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: twelve children, but only four lived to adulthood. One of them, 540 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,840 Speaker 1: his son, Felix, followed in his footsteps as a composer 541 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: and a musician. Gruber died on June sixty three. The St. 542 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: Nicholas Church is no longer standing, but today there is 543 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: a chapel on the former site known as the Opendorf 544 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 1: Silent Night Chapel. The guitar that More played also still 545 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: survives and is in a museum. I find that whole 546 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: story kind of lovely, Just a simple story about a 547 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: simple song that has stayed around for two hundred years. 548 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 1: It is very sweet. I also, before we get into 549 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: some listener mail, I want to thank Christopher Hasciotis who 550 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: did some research for this Day in History class about 551 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: the first publication of a Christmas Carol, which became a 552 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: part of the research for that part of today episode. 553 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 1: So thanks Christopher. So you mentioned listener mail. Does that 554 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: mean you have it ready to roll? I knew I 555 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,840 Speaker 1: have listener mail that is about the cable cars of 556 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: San Francisco and it is from Ian and said when 557 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,760 Speaker 1: you did your research for this episode, you probably noticed 558 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: that a lot of cable car systems around the world 559 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: were developed from San Francisco system. This was before electric 560 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,120 Speaker 1: street car technology took over. Dunedin, New Zealand, was the 561 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: first city to copy the San Francisco cable cars. It 562 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,479 Speaker 1: too has a lot of steep streets, one of which 563 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: Baldwin Street, isn't the Guinness Book of World Records for 564 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: being the world's steepest residential street. Sadly, the system closed 565 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,759 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties. Hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, has 566 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: a cable car. It originally used a cable system similar 567 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,920 Speaker 1: to the San Francisco system, but in the late nineteen 568 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,000 Speaker 1: seventies was rebuilt as a funicular type of cable car. 569 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: Like San Francisco, Wellington's cable car has been kept going 570 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,719 Speaker 1: when it faced competition from other forms of transport because 571 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: it had become a tourist icon. Sad the same could 572 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,760 Speaker 1: not be said for Wellington's other transport icon, the trolley 573 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: bus system. It closed in late despite being the last 574 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: regular commercial system in Australasia. Trolley buses are electric buses 575 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: which gets their power from overhead wires. Like street cars, 576 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,719 Speaker 1: also known as trams do. A lot of cities around 577 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,720 Speaker 1: the world replaced their street car systems with trolley busses 578 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: before they made the switch to diesel bustles for public transport. Glasgow, Scotland, 579 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,399 Speaker 1: has the third oldest subway system in the world. When 580 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,479 Speaker 1: it was first built, it used to cable cars because 581 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: electric technology was in its infancy and because regular steam 582 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: locomotives would have filled the tunnels with smoke. And Melbourne, 583 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: Australia is famous for now having the largest tram or 584 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,760 Speaker 1: street car system in the world. However, the system started 585 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: out as a cable car system before being gradually upgraded 586 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,880 Speaker 1: to electric. One guy I worked with on the railroad 587 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,440 Speaker 1: here in Australia's told me that in his previous role 588 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,879 Speaker 1: they were constantly digging up bits of old cable car 589 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 1: system as they did upgrades to the electric trams system. 590 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: Thank you once again, Ian, Thank you for this note. Ian. 591 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,440 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna note again because I always do. I 592 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: don't sound like in Australian when I try to say Melbourne, 593 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: but that's because I'm not an Australian. What it's been 594 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: operating under the false pretense that you're from Australia this 595 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: whole time. No, it's so weird. Uh. So we've gotten 596 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,359 Speaker 1: a number of notes from folks about various street car 597 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: and UM and cable car and tram systems, so thank 598 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: you so much for sending that. We also got a 599 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: question on Twitter, um because our our tweets about the 600 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 1: episode called the San Francisco system the oldest system of 601 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 1: its kind, so someone on Twitter also asked what exactly 602 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: of their kind meant because Lisbon has cable cars that 603 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,000 Speaker 1: are like San Francisco's, and a helpful person chimed into 604 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: note that the San Francisco cars are the last manually 605 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 1: operated system in the world. The other systems in the world, 606 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 1: who have a very similar system of underground cables and 607 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 1: big wheels that turn the whole thing, are automatically operated 608 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: rather than manual at this point. So thank you for 609 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,120 Speaker 1: that Twitter discussion. If you would like to write to 610 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast, where a history 611 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: podcast at how Stuff Works dot com. We're also all 612 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:15,879 Speaker 1: over social media at missed in History. That is where 613 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:20,359 Speaker 1: you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 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