US Stamps 2017 Christmas Carols 5 Sheets of 20

US Stamps 2017 Christmas Carols 5 Sheets of 20 First Performance Of Silent Night Silent Night was first performed on Christmas Eve in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, in 1818. The story goes that the organ at St. Nicholas parish was broken and could not be repaired before Christmas. A young priest named Joseph Mohr remembered a poem he had written in 1816. The poem described the tranquil scene of Jesus birth. Mohr brought the poem to the churchs organist Franz Xaver Gruber and asked him to create a melody and guitar accompaniment. At Christmas Eve mass, the duo performed the new carol. A few weeks later when the organ was being fixed, Gruber sat down to test the keys and played the melody to the new Christmas carol. The repairman fell in love with the song and passed it on to two well-known singing groups in his home village, the Rainers and the Strassers. The Rainers performed the song for Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia. They also made the first performance of Silent Night in the US in 1839 in New York City. By the 1840s, the song was a favorite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. Although today we know Silent Night as a slow song, Gruber had written a slightly more upbeat melody that was in 6/8 time. The English version of Silent Night was translated in 1859 and can now be found in hundreds of different languages. In 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Silent Night an intangible cultural heritage. St. Nicholas church, where the song was first performed, was severely damaged by flooding and was demolished in 1913. A new church was built in 1906 in the new town center (the entire town was moved upstream to avoid the heavy flooding.) During World War I, the citizens of Oberndorf sought to honor the centennial of Silent Night but little was done due to the war. Then in 1924, construction began on a memorial chapel. It was completed in 1937 and named Feast of the Assumption, though it is also known as the Silent Night Chapel. The condition of the stamp is as shown in the image and is suitable for paying postage or collecting.