Silent Night!, Holy Night!

Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf

Silent Night, one of the best loved Christmas carols, was first performed two centuries ago. Now sung in 300 languages around the world, it is a key part of Yuletide festivities

1816: Joseph Mohr, young assistant priest in Mariapfarr, Austria, composes six-stanza poem, Stille Nacht

Dec 24,1818: Mohr, now assistant priest at St Nicolas parish in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, asks school teacher and organist Franz Xaver Gruber to add melody to poem

Silent Night heard for first time on Christmas Eve at St Nicolas church. Mohr plays guitar
and sings tenor part, Gruber sings bass

AUSTRIA
Vienna
Steyr
Salzburg
Mariapfarr
Oberndorf
100km 60 miles

Zillertal valley

1818: Silent Night sung for first time at Midnight Mass

1827: Joseph Greis, book printer from Steyr, prints first edition of song

1832: Strasser family, folk singers from Zillertal valley in Tyrol, gives first proven international performance in Leipzig, Germany. They and Rainer family, also folk singers, spread song’s fame around Europe

1935: Version by U.S. singer Bing Crosby remains third best-selling single of all time, with 30 million copies sold

1839: Rainer family performs Silent Night in New York

Dec 24,  1914: Soldiers on opposing sides in World War I sing it together across trenches of Western Front

2011: Song declared intangible national cultural heritage by UNESCO

Dec 24, 2018: Silent Night marks 200th anniversary

 

Source: www.stillenacht.com Pictures: Newscom, Salzburg Museum, Werner100359 © GRAPHIC NEWS