Silent Night

"Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song was first recorded in 1905 and has remained a popular success, appearing in films and multiple successful recordings, as well as being quoted in other musical compositions. It is one of the most recorded Christmas songs, with more than 137,000 known recordings.

History

"" was first performed on Christmas Eve, 1818, at the Nikolauskirche, the parish church of Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, he had written the poem "" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest.

The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of , now part of Lamprechtshausen. On Christmas Eve, 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for that night's mass, after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ. The church was eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the Silent-Night-Chapel. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.

According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the instrument at the Oberndorf church, was enamoured of the song, and took the composition home with him to the Zillertal. From there, two travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, included the tune in their shows. The Rainers were already singing it around Christmas 1819, and they once performed it for an audience that included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia, as well as making the first performance of the song in the U.S., in New York City in 1839. By the 1840s the song was well known in Lower Saxony and was reported to be a favourite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. During this period, the melody changed slightly to become the version that is commonly played today.

Over the years, because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr's name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many people assumed the melody was composed by a more famous composer, and it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert. However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers as . It states that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818. This is the earliest manuscript that exists and the only one in Mohr's handwriting.

;Original melody:
:
<<
\new Staff <<
\new Voice="melody" \relative c''
\new Voice \relative c'
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\new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody"
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The first edition was published by in 1833 in a collection of ''Four Genuine Tyrolean Songs'', with the following musical text:

:
\transpose c d \relative c''

The contemporary version, as in the choral example below, is:

:
\transpose c d \relative c''

Translations

In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at Trinity Church, New York City, wrote and published the English translation that is most frequently sung today, translated from three of Mohr's original six verses. The version of the melody that is generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale, differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber's original, which was a " moderato" tune in time and siciliana rhythm. Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain, although newer translations usually are not.

In 1998 the Silent Night Museum in Salzburg commissioned a new English translation by Bettina Klein of Mohr's German lyrics. For the most part, Klein preserves both Young's translation and the interpretive decisions that inform his word-choices. Yet Klein also attempts occasionally to restore Mohr's original phrasing, changing, for instance, Young's "Holy infant, so tender and mild" to Mohr's "Holy infant with curly hair" (''Holder Knab' im lockigten Haar''). However, she continues to interpret Mohr's ''traute heilige Paar'' as referring to Mary and the baby, whereas Mohr's use of the word ''traute'' can mean "espoused," thus suggesting perhaps that the "holy pair" represents Mary and Joseph watching (picking up Mohr's ''wacht'') over the curly-haired infant/boy.

Joseph Mohr wrote the original six verses of *Silent Night* (*Stille Nacht*) in German in 1816. Below are the verses in their original German text, as they were first penned, followed by a literal English translation for clarity. The English translations aim to preserve the original meaning and structure, though modern English versions often differ for poetic or musical reasons.
The modern English version commonly sung today (based on John Freeman Young’s 1859 translation) typically includes only three verses (1, 6, and 2, in that order) and adapts the wording for rhyme and flow, losing some of the original theological depth.

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

Literal English Translation
1.
Silent night! Holy night!
All is asleep; alone wakes
Only the dear, most holy couple.
Lovely boy with curly hair,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!
2.
Silent night! Holy night!
God’s Son, oh how laughs
Love from your divine mouth,
As the saving hour strikes us.
Christ, in your birth!
Christ, in your birth!
3.
Silent night! Holy night!
Which brought salvation to the world,
From heaven’s golden heights,
Lets us see the abundance of grace;
Jesus in human form!
Jesus in human form!
4.
Silent night! Holy night!
Where today all the might
Of fatherly love poured forth,
And as a brother graciously embraced
Jesus the peoples of the world!
Jesus the peoples of the world!
5.
Silent night! Holy night!
Long ago planned for us,
When the Lord, freed from wrath,
In the ancient times of the fathers
Promised mercy to all the world!
Promised mercy to all the world!
6.
Silent night! Holy night!
First announced to shepherds
Through the angels’ hallelujah,
It resounds loudly from far and near:
Christ the Savior is here!
Christ the Savior is here!

The carol has been translated into about 300 languages.

Lyrics

:

In the second stanza, some English versions read "shepherds quail" rather than "shepherds quake."

A common fourth verse or alternative third verse is:
Silent night, holy night,
wondrous star, lend thy light;
with the angels let us sing,
Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!

Musical settings

The carol was arranged by various composers, such as Carl Reinecke, Gustav Schreck, Eusebius Mandyczewski, Malcolm Sargent, David Willcocks, Charles Mackerras, Philip Ledger, John Rutter, Stephen Cleobury, Jacob de Haan and Taylor Scott Davis..

Max Reger quotes the tune in the Christmas section of his organ pieces ''Sieben Stücke'', Op. 145.

Alfred Schnittke composed an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for violin and piano in 1978, as a holiday greeting for violinist Gidon Kremer. Due to its dissonant and nightmarish character, the miniature caused a scandal in Austria.

In film

Several theatrical and television films depict how the song was ostensibly written. Most of them report the organ breaking down at the church in Oberndorf, which appeared in a fictional story published in the U.S. in the 1930s.

* '' The Legend of Silent Night'' (1968) TV film directed by Daniel Mann
* '' Silent Night, Holy Night'' (1976) animated short film by Hanna-Barbera.
* '' Silent Mouse'' (1988) television special directed and produced by Robin Crichton and narrated by Lynn Redgrave.
* '' Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night'' (1998) direct-to-video animated featurette
* ''Silent Night'' (2012) directed by Christian Vuissa
* ''The First Silent Night'' (2014), documentary narrated by Simon Callow
*''Stille Nacht – ein Lied für die Welt'' (2018), music documentary created and directed by Hannes M. Schalle, narrated by Peter Simonischek. An English version, ''Silent Night – A Song for the World'' (2020), narrated by Hugh Bonneville, was released two years later.

On record charts

Several recordings of "Silent Night" have reached the record charts in various countries. These include:
*1969–1979: Percy Sledge on the Dutch Charts
*1972–1973: Tom Tomson on the Belgium Ultratop Flanders chart and on its Wallonia chart
*1975–1976: The Cats on the Dutch Charts
*1991–1992: Sinéad O'Connor on the Dutch Charts
*1993: Enya No. 48 on the Australian Charts with an Irish language version of the song.
*2007–2008: Josh Groban on the Norwegian Charts and on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary Chart
*2008: Glasvegas on the Swedish Charts
*2009: Mariah Carey on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Digital Song Sales Chart
*2013–2014: Elvis Presley on the French Charts
*2013–2014: Nat King Cole on the French Charts
*2017: The Temptations on the Swedish Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan) charts

See also

* List of Christmas carols

References

External links

*

"Song of peace – 'Silent Night' as a message of peace"


Translation of all six verses of the German original
* Free arrangements fo
piano
an
voice
from Cantorion.org

Silent Night Chapel, origin of song
*
*
* New instrumental arrangement 2021
* , from adaptation project "restored'hymns", recorded at the Magdeburg Cathedral "St. Sebastian" by the musicians of "ConTakt Music e.V." Germany, in January 2025

{{Authority control

1818 songs
19th-century hymns in German
Austrian songs
Bing Crosby songs
Christmas carols in German
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Public domain music
Songs about Jesus
Volkslied
Frederick William IV of Prussia