Silent Night
Words: Joseph Mohr, 1818; tr. John Freeman Young, 1863 · Tune "Stille Nacht," Franz Gruber, 1818 · Public domain
Verse 1
CSilent night, holy night!
G7All is calm, Call is bright
FRound yon virgin Cmother and child,
FHoly Infant so Ctender and mild,
G7Sleep in Cheavenly peace,
CSleep in G7heavenly Cpeace.
Verse 2
CSilent night, holy night!
G7Shepherds quake Cat the sight;
FGlories stream from Cheaven afar,
FHeavenly hosts Csing Alleluia;
G7Christ the CSavior is born,
CChrist the G7Savior is Cborn!
Verse 3
CSilent night, holy night!
G7Son of God, Clove's pure light;
FRadiant beams from CThy holy face,
FWith the dawn of Credeeming grace,
G7Jesus, CLord, at Thy birth,
CJesus, G7Lord, at CThy birth.
Chords in the key of C
- C
- G7
- F
About this hymn
- Words
- Joseph Mohr, German original 1818; English translation by John Freeman Young, first published in the early 1860s
- Music
- STILLE NACHT, Franz Xaver Gruber, composed December 24, 1818, in Austria
- Meter
- Irregular (668866)
- In
- 766 hymnals
- Scripture
- Luke 2:1-20, Isaiah 7:14, John 1:1-18
The story
Joseph Mohr wrote the poem in 1816, two years before anybody sang it, while he was an assistant priest at Mariapfarr. It was first performed on Christmas Eve of 1818 at St. Nicholas church in Oberndorf, near Salzburg. Franz Gruber wrote it with guitar rather than organ, and the accounts tie that to flood damage at the church. The English version most of us know comes from John Freeman Young. Sources put that translation in the early 1860s and do not agree on the exact year, so I will leave it there. Young's version keeps only three of Mohr's six German stanzas. UNESCO added the carol to its heritage list in 2011, and it exists in around three hundred languages.
Where it fits in a service
Often used at the end of a Christmas Eve service, usually with candles and the lights down. It also fits as a quiet closing anywhere in Advent when the room needs to get still.
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