The popular carol “Silent Night” is an English version of the Austrian carol “Stille Nacht”.
The history of how the carol came to be is rather interesting. Austrian priest Father Josef Mohr composed the lyrics of “Stille Nacht” as a poem in 1816, possibly whilst in Mariapfarr in the Lungau region of the Austrian province of Salzburg. On December 24th 1818, he and the Austrian organist Franz Xaver Gruber were at the St. Nicola church in Oberndorf preparing for Christmas Eve mass. Mohr showed Gruber his poem and asked if he could write a fitting melody for two solo voices together with choir and a guitar accompaniment. As Mohr liked the composition that Gruber came up with, they performed the carol that evening at Christmas mass. Mohr sang the tenor part and played the guitar, while Gruber sang bass.
The reason behind the creation of the song has been the subject of great speculation! According to Austria’s Silent Night Society, it could have been a broken church organ that caused Mohr and Gruber to create a song for accompaniment by guitar. By contrast, some historians think that Mohr simply wanted a new Christmas carol that he could play using his guitar. Whatever the reason behind the song, it quickly became popular worldwide. So far, the carol has been translated into over 300 languages!
In English, and most likely in other languages too, the lyrics of the song vary. The most common English version is shown below:
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,
Heavenly 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.
