{"id":544034,"date":"2021-10-01T10:41:26","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T08:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salzburgerland.com\/en\/?p=544034"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:26:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:26:54","slug":"singing-families-rainer-and-strasser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salzburgerland.com\/en\/singing-families-rainer-and-strasser\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing families Rainer and Strasser"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story of the two singing families and their bond to the\u00a0<\/span>world\u2019s most famous Christmas song<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>begins with the organ builder Carl Mauracher from F\u00fcgen. It is said that in 1824\/25 Mauracher was working on the reconstruction of the organ of the St. Nikola Church in Oberndorf near Salzburg and brought the song from there to the Zillertal valley. There, the song spread rapidly and was frequently performed at festivities during the Christmas period.<\/p>\n

The talented Strasser Siblings perform the song in Germany<\/h2>\n

The Strasser Siblings have been proven to have been the first band to perform \u201cSilent Night\u201d. The family originally came from\u00a0<\/span>Laimach near Hippach. The father, Lorenz Strasser, was a farmer, shopkeeper and glove seller. Together with his children, he lived in the \u201cStrasserh\u00e4usl\u201d, still preserved to this day. Strasser was a travelling salesman and would go to the biggest markets in Germany during the winter months, such as in Leipzig or Berlin. His vocally talented children Anna (born 1802), Josef (called Peppi, born in 1807), Amalie (born in 1809), Caroline (born 1813) and Alexander (born 1794, although he already passed away in 1831) accompanied him during his travels. They sang \u2014 always dressed in their traditional garments \u2014 Tirolean national songs for the purpose of attracting more customers. The siblings are said to have sung \u201cSilent Night\u201d at Leipzig\u2019s Christmas market in 1831 already, as well as at the Christmas mass of the Royal Saxon Court Orchestra at the Pleissenburg fortress.<\/p>\n

\u201cSilent Night\u201d celebrates great success in Leipzig in 1832<\/h2>\n

In December 1832, an ad placed in a Leipzig newspaper announced a concert by the Strasser Siblings in the Hotel de Bologne. It has been shown that, next to various Tirolean songs, the group also performed the Christmas song \u201cSilent Night\u201d. Furthermore, publisher August Robert Friese from Dresden released a document (probably in 1833) containing four authentic Tirolean songs, number four of which was the now famous \u201cSilent Night\u201d!<\/p>\n

After this publication, several printed editions of \u201cSilent Night\u201d followed in Germany. And although the song clearly originates from Salzburg, \u201cSilent Night\u201d was considered a Tirolean or Zillertal valley folk song for a long time. This was due to the fact that the Strasser Siblings had originally adjusted the song\u2019s melody to their own taste and sang it in a novel way. And thus, the simple church song became a folk song, which, thanks to all the Tirolean national singing bands, ended up becoming famous all around the world.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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