Скачать или смотреть Softly Falls the Snow (Leise rieselt der Schnee)- Eduard Ebel (1895) Arr. Sandra Labsch

This German Christmas carol was one of my Oma's favorite Christmas songs and I used to sing it with her. It is one of the most well known German Christmas songs in the world. It was written in 1895 by Eduard Ebel, a pastor in Graudenz and was first published under the title Weihnachtsgruß ("Christmas greeting") in his volume Gesammelte Gedichte (Collected Poems).

Nobody knows for sure where the melody comes from, but most likely it was a folk tune, which Ebel himself possibly adopted for his song.

The Christkind (German for "Christ-child" is the traditional Christmas gift-bringer in German-speaking in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Southern Germany and Western Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the eastern part of Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, parts of northeastern France, Upper Silesia in Poland, parts of Latin America, in certain areas of southern Brazil, and in the Acadiana region of Louisiana.

Here are the lyrics, first in English and then the original German:


Softly falls the snow,
Still and silent lies the lake,
The forest gleams with Christmas light:
Rejoice, the Christ Child comes soon.

In the heart it is warm,
Quietly cease sorrow and harm,
Worries of life have faded:
Rejoice, the Christ Child comes soon.

Soon it is holy night,
Choir of angels awakens,
Listen, how lovely it sounds:
Rejoice, the Christ Child comes soon.


German:

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.