Silent Night

The entire history of Christmas postage stamps is interesting itself. In fact, the Christmas Philatelic Club focuses solely to the topic. However, the first of the Christmas stamps to feature a musical topic was certainly the 1948 Austrian stamp featuring Franz Gruber and Josef Mohr who wrote the favorite carol, “Silent NIght.”

The Song

The song “Stille Nacht” was first performed on Chritmas Eve 1818 at the church of St. Nicholas in the village of Oberndorf in Austria. According to tradition, the parish had a new young priest, Father Joseph Mohr. The organ was not working, so Mohr took a poem he had written two years earlier, “Stille Nacht,” to the church organist and choirmaster Franz Gruber. Using a guitar, the musician wrote the tune and a simple chord progression. The two men first sang the song as a duet on Christmas Eve while Mohr accompanied on the guitar. The song has become perhaps the most beloved Christmas carol ever written.

The Stamp

To commemorate the 130th anniversary of the premiere performance of the hymn, Austria released a stamp on December 18, 1948. The single-color engraved stamp features the portraits of Gruber (back) and Mohr (front). Below the portraits are the first lyrics of the stamp. The only truly decorative parts on on the sides where there are wavy lines, which it has been suggested might be organ pipes (it does look like they have typical organ pipe mouths). The only visual motif with a vague association with Christmas is a single shooting star on the left side of the stamp.

The stamp was one of the many collaborations of the Austrian stamp designer Wilhelm Dachauer, a painter, and Ferdinand Lorber, an engraver.

The stamp feels very much like other stamps of the time. It especially reminds me of some of the national anthem stamps from the 1940s and 50s. For example, compare the Austrian stamp to the below stamp from Chile in 1947.

Both stamps are monochromatic and both feature portraits of two men, the composers and lyricists. The Chilean stamp has a few bars of the tune on the bottom. Instead of the tune, the Austrian stamp has the opening lyrics. I actually think that the Austrian stamp would be more attractive with a couple of bars of music, as the stamp doesn’t immediately suggest a music theme.

I want to close this post by wishing everyone a healthy and safe Christmas. It is a tough year, but I wish all of you the very best.

Enjoy this recording of “Stille Nacht” with a men’s duet and guitar accompaniment, perhaps sounding very close to the original performance.