- Josef Mohr
Josef Mohr (
december 11 ,1792 –December 4 ,1848 ) was anAustria n priest and composer, who wrote the words to theChristmas carol "Silent Night".Biography
Josef Franz Mohr was born in
Salzburg onDecember 11 ,1792 , to an unmarried embroiderer, Anna Schoiberin, and a mercenary soldier, Franz Mohr who deserted the army and Josef's mother before the birth.As his musical talent was not recognized, he found a sponsor to set him upon the path to higher education. As an illegitimate child he needed the pope's special permission to study for the priesthood and was ordained a priest in 1815. Rev. Mohr was sent to a pilgrim church in the remote Alpine village of
Mariapfarr , where in 1816 he wrote a six-stanza poem that was to become the world's most popular carol. Mohr was moved toOberndorf in 1817 to stay there for two years. WhenFranz Gruber agreed to compose a melody and guitar arrangement for the poem to be sung at midnight mass onDecember 24 ,1818 , 'Silent Night' was born. Within a few short years, arrangements of the carol appeared in churches in the Salzburg Diocese and folk singers from the Ziller Valley were taking the song on tours around Europe.Until 2006, it was thought that Mohr and Gruber had collaborated on just one song. Now another song has been located in the Wagrain parish archive by the Salzburg Diocesan Archives. "Te Deum" with text by Joseph Mohr and melody by Franz Xaver Gruber can be heard in an audio exhibit at the Waggerl Museum in Wagrain.
Mohr, a generous man who donated most of his salary to charity, was moved from place to place and finally became parish pastor in
Wagrain , where he founded a new school for children. He created a fund to allow children from poor families to attend school and he set up a system for the care of the elderly.Father Mohr died of a pulmonary disease on December 4, 1848. The village school is named after him and his grave has been kept in a place of honor in the nearby churchyard cemetery. An outdoor exhibit detailing the life of Josef Mohr is situated on the walkway between the church and the parish house where he once lived. In 2006, the town's Waggerl Museum set up a new permanent exhibit -- "Josef Mohr - Vicar of Wagrain".
Samantha Mohr, a meteorologist at the Weather Channel, is a descendant of Father Mohr.
Josef Michael Mohr, who owns a bowling center in OBX NC, is a decendent.
External links
*ChoralWiki
* [http://www.stillenacht.at/en/mohr.asp Silent Night Association Life of Josef Mohr]
* [http://www.orgelbau.at/german/orgeln/orgeldetail_external.php?id=1&lang=de Josef Mohr Memorial Organ, Wagrain, Austria]
* [http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm History of song]
*CathEncy|wstitle=Josef Mohree also
*
Franz Gruber
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