Das unsterbliche Lied (1934)

The teacher Franz Gruber has just received a letter informing him that one of his compositions is to be performed in Salzburg on Low Sunday. Overjoyed, he tells his friend, Father Mohr, who congratulates him on his success. Gruber and his wife attend the procession and the service that follows on Low Sunday. While they celebrate for a little while with the cathedral choirmaster at the “Petrikeller” after Mass, some of the congregation go on a merry raft trip. A little mishap puts a damper on the fun: Traudel, the Sternwirt’s daughter, falls into the water, and only the swift help of Lois, whom Traudel secretly adores, saves her life. He would dearly love to ask for her hand, but her father firmly refuses him. Even when Traudel confesses to her father that she loves Lois, he will hear none of it. In the end, he disowns her, and Traudel leaves her father’s home with Lois. With Gruber’s help, Father Mohr marries them quietly, able only to send them off with the pious wish that, with God’s help, everything may turn out for the best. Five years pass, and the loving couple have become a little family with a son. They live in a hut in the mountains, but one day an avalanche takes all their possessions. Relieved to have escaped with their lives, Traudel wants to return with her family to her father. But the old man remains bitter and hard-hearted. Only the maid takes pity on them and lets the family stay in the stable in the cold December weather, so they can at least keep warm. Late that evening, Father Mohr happens by and wonders why a light is still shining there. He looks through the window and sees the three of them like the Holy Family, and the words of the Bible come to mind: “And they had no room at the inn.” The sight of the blond, curly-haired boy, whom his parents have laid down to sleep on soft straw in the animals’ feeding trough, inspires him to write a poem. The very next day, he has his friend Gruber set it to music, hoping at last to soften the Sternwirt’s heart. At the same time, he hopes the song will solve the problem of the broken organ, which can no longer be repaired, since it is Christmas, and a Christmas Eve Mass without music is unthinkable to him. Everything is now ready, and in his Christmas sermon the priest urges the congregation not to close their hearts or turn anyone away, because that would be unchristian. Then, as the lovely melody rings out, little Loisl approaches his grandfather and asks him why he is crying. At last, the Sternwirt’s bitterness gives way. He strokes and kisses his grandson and reaches out his hand to his daughter and son-in-law in reconciliation.