Silent Night

Composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Austria, "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht") is a beloved Christmas carol with origins in early 19th-century Austria that has achieved global recognition. The lyrics were written as a poem by young priest Joseph Mohr in 1816 while serving in Mariapfarr, a town in the Lungau region of Austria, and two years later on Christmas Eve of 1818, Mohr approached school teacher and organist Franz Xaver Gruber in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, asking him to compose a melody for his poem. The carol was first performed that same night, December 24, 1818, at the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, with Mohr singing tenor and playing the guitar while Gruber sang bass, and historians believe the use of guitar accompaniment was the original intention rather than due to a broken church organ as is often claimed. The historical context of its creation is significant, as Mohr wrote the poem in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, a period of widespread turmoil, financial hardship, and insecurity in Europe, reflecting a deep longing for peace and comfort. The song's popularity quickly spread thanks to traveling folk singers like the Strasser and Rainer families, who performed it across northern Europe and introduced it to the United States in 1839, and today "Silent Night" has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects, making it one of the most widely known and recorded Christmas songs globally, and it was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011.