Christmas History
Silent Night, Holy Night

Joseph Franz Mohr
(11.12.1792 -
04.12.1848)

The guitar is thought 
to be the one used by Joseph Mohr in 1818

Karl Mauracher
Organ Builder

This well known melody we hear today as "Silent Night" or "Stille Nacht", is not quite the same as once Franz Gruber composed it. 

In a small village, Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria, flooding of the Salzach river had placed the only organ out of commission. Pastor Joseph Franz Mohr had no music for the Christmas Eve Service. 

On December 24th, 1818,  it was a cold day in Oberndorf. Franz Mohr walked three kilometers to the neighboring town of Arnsdorf to visit Franz Gruber, a School Teacher, and also the church's organist and choir master. He had with him a carol which he wrote two years earlier (1816), and he needed music to the lyrics, so he could play it with his guitar the same evening at the Christmas Eve Mass.

Oberndorf, Austria, 1818

Oberndorf, Austria, now

Franz Gruber composed the melody for the carol with guitar accompaniment  in just a few hours, and had time to rehearse it with the church choir.

Later that evening on December 24th, 1818, Mohr and Gruber stood before the altar in the Sankt Nikolaus Kirche, (St. Nicholas Church), in Oberndorf, Austria, to perform their own work. The church choir group backed them up as the sounds of Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night), broke the silent of the evening and the world most famous song was born.

Sankt Nikolaus Kirche

The master organ builder, Karl Mauracher, from Zuegen, Zillertal, in Tyrol, traveled to Oberndorf to work on the damaged organ several times in subsequent years, until he replaced it in 1825 with a new one. Karl, while working on the organ, learnt about the song and made a copy for himself. 

Two traveling families of folk singers, similar to the Trapp Family Singer of "The Sound of Music", got hold of the Christmas carol and started to use it in their performances.  It has been recorded, that the "Strasser Family Singers", sang the carol in a concert in Leipzig in December 1832. At that time, several notes from the carol were changed, and the song we know today evolved.

On other occasions, the "Rainer Family Singers", sang the Christmas carol before an audience which also included Emperor Franz I and Tsar Alexander I. Later in 1839, the Rainers sang the carol during a performance in America for the first time. They performed under the open sky before the burnt down Trinity Church in New York.

By the turn of the century, the carol was sang in England, New Zealand, Africa, and South and North America. The song spread with the help of Christian Missionaries to all Continents.

By the time the carol became famous throughout Europe, Pastor Joseph Mohr had died. Although, Franz Gruber wrote to music authorities in Berlin, stating that he was the composer, it had been assumed that the song must be the work of Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven. This assumption went on until the twentieth century. The controversy was put to rest in 1994, when a long lost arrangement of "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" in the handwriting of Joseph Mohr was authenticated. Mohr had written, "Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber" in the upper right hand corner.

Silent night Holy night All is calm all is bright 'Round yon virgin Mother and Child Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar, Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia; Christ the Savior is born; Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

1. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!  Alles schläft; einsam wacht Nur das traute hoch heilige Paar.  Holder Knab' im lockigten Haar,  |: Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh! :|  2. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,  Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.  |: Jesus in deiner Geburt! :|  3. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Die der Welt Heil gebracht, Aus des Himmels goldenen Höhn,  Uns der Gnaden Fülle läßt sehn,  |: Jesus in Menschengestalt! :|  4. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Wo sich heut alle Macht Väterlicher Liebe ergoß, Und als Bruder huldvoll umschloß  |: Jesus die Völker der Welt! :|  5. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Lange schon uns bedacht, Als der Herr vom Grimme befreit In der Väter urgrauer Zeit  |: Aller Welt Schonung verhieß! :|  6. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Hirten erst kundgemacht Durch der Engel Alleluja, Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah:  |: "Jesus der Retter ist da!" :|