"Stille Nacht" originated in the
year 1818 in St. Nicholas Catholic church, located in the Austrian town of
Oberndorf. The church's 60-year-old pipe organ had broken down due to dampness
caused by the recent flooding of the nearby Salzach river,and the organ
builder/repairman would not be returning to Oberndorf until the following
spring. Consequently, plans for the special organ and choral music for the
Christmas Eve Mass had to be canceled by the church's organist and choir
director, 31-year-old Franz Gruber. By Christmas Eve morning, word that the
midnight Mass would be without music had spread throughout the valley. The
parish congregation, which was made up of sheep herders, weavers, salt miners,
farmers, river boat men, and their families, were very upset with the fact
that Christmas Mass would not have music.
As equally upset was the parish's pastor, 26-year-old Father Joseph Mohr, who had been assigned to St. Nicholas a little more than a year earlier, together with Father Joseph Kessler. Father Kessler appointed the problem of a music free Mass to Gruber and Mohr, saying only that he would, whatever the circumstances, deliver his usual Christmas homily. While searching for a solution, Mohr showed Gruber a crumpled piece of paper on which were scribbled the verses of a simple Christmas poem. Mohr suggested that Gruber compose a simple harmony for the words that could be taught to the choirboys. Mohr then offered to play the accompaniment on his guitar, noting that there would otherwise be no music for the Mass, only Father Kessler's sermon. Gruber then read the following words of the first verse aloud:
"Still the night, holy the night.
All are asleep, a lonely watch
Only by the holy pair.
Beautiful boy with curly hair,
Sleeping in heavenly rest..."
Before he had even started the second verse, Gruber told his friend that he had a tune that might fit the poem - a little song that had been spinning around in his head for weeks. After several hours, Gruber returned to the church and summoned for Mohr, who in turn requested the presence of the choirboys. After only six verses of the makeshift composition, the two men agreed - it was not bad.
Just before midnight, on December 24, 1818, the parishioners of St. Nicholas Church became the first to hear what Gruber had titled "A Christmas Song." This simple song was enjoyed by everyone who attended the Mass, except for Father Kessler. Following Mass, Father Kessler addressed Gruber and Mohr saying, "How dare you bring a guitar - the instrument of the devil - into my church?" And with those words, he threatened to dismiss Gruber and have Mohr transferred if the song was heard again.
As per Father Kessler's words, the song was not heard again in Oberndorf until the spring of 1824, when the organ repairman, Carl Mauracher, who had repaired the organ earlier in 1819, returned to install a new instrument. He found a Gruber autographed copy of the carol in the organ loft. Gruber confirmed that he had written the melody for the Christmas Mass in 1818, and gave Mauracher permission to take the copy with him on his journey home. The little melody had made such an impression on Mauracher, that he decided to play the tune on all the organs he built and repaired in the parish churches throughout Austria and Bavaria.
Thanks to Mauracher, the Gruber-Mohr carol found its way into the hands of the Strasser sisters, who were well known traveling musicians. The carol then spread north into Germany when the Strasser quartet performed it at the Leipzig Fair in 1831. It wasn't until 1839 that the first known performance of "Stille Nacht" took place in the United States. The Rainer Family, a group of traveling musicians from Austria, performed the German version of the carol at the Alexander Hamilton Monument near New York City's Trinity Church.
In 1863, 24 years after the songs initial German introduction into the United States by the Rainer Family, John Freeman Young, an Episcopal priest who enjoyed translating European hymns and carols, published an English version of "Silent Night". It is this version of the song that is found in most English hymnals and Christmas carol collections.
This Christmas Eve, 184 years after two young men overcame a local church crisis, no other carol will be performed more often during the Celebration of the Christmas season than "Silent Night".