Leise rieselt der Schnee (which translates as "softly falls the snow") is one of the most famous Christmas songs in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

. It was composed in

1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...

in Graudenz by the Protestant pastor Eduard Ebel (1839–1905) and published under the title Weihnachtsgruß ("Christmas greeting") in his volume ''Gesammelte Gedichte''. The composition of the melody is also often attributed to Ebel, but this statement is uncertain and apparently unsupported, especially since Ebel's own publication contains only the text.Eduard Ebel: ''Gesammelte Gedichte.'' Gaebel, s. l. raudenz1895, p. 86. According to other sources, the melody is a folk tune, which Ebel himself possibly adopted for his song. Other sources again suggest that the melody is based on a musette (1792) by

Daniel Gottlob Türk Daniel Gottlob Türk (10 August 1750 – 26 August 1813) was a German composer, organist, and music professor of the Classical period. Biography Born in Claußnitz, Saxony, Türk studied organ under his father and later under Johann Adam Hill ...

(1750–1813);Roland Burmeister: ''Die Musikstellen bei Arno Schmidt: chronologisches Stellenverzeichnis zum Gesamtwerk von Arno Schmidt mit Erläuterungen & Kommentaren.'' Häusser, Darmstadt 1991, , S. 623 () however, the similarity of the melodies only applies to the first one and a half bars.

Melody

\relative c'' \addlyrics

Lyrics

Leise rieselt der Schnee, Still und starr liegt der See, Weihnachtlich glänzet der Wald: Freue Dich, Christkind kommt bald. In den Herzen ist’s warm, Still schweigt Kummer und Harm, Sorge des Lebens verhallt: Freue Dich, Christkind kommt bald. Bald ist heilige Nacht; Chor der Engel erwacht; Horch’ nur, wie lieblich es schallt: Freue Dich, Christkind kommt bald.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Advent songs German children's songs Volkslied