Franz Xaver Gruber (November 25, 1787–June 7, 1863), was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist in the village of Arnsdorf, and organist and choirmaster at St. Nicholas Church in the neighboring village of Oberndorf.
Together with Josef Mohr (original German lyrics), a Catholic priest, Gruber composed the Christmas carol Silent Night, Holy Night. On December 24, 1818, Mohr, an assistant pastor at St. Nicholas, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816. He asked Gruber to write a melody and guitar arrangement for the poem. At Christmas Mass, while Mohr played his guitar, the two men sang Stille Nacht for the first time. The St. Nicholas choir repeated the last two lines of each verse.
Melodically, the solfege is
Sol La Sol Mi
Sol La Sol Mi
Re Re Ti
Do Do Sol
La La Do Ti La Sol La Sol Mi
La La Do Ti La Sol La Sol Mi
Re Re Fa Re Ti Do Mi
Do Sol Mi Sol Fa Re Do
Harmonically,
I I V I IV I IV I V I V I
In later years, Gruber wrote additional arrangements of the carol for organ and for organ with orchestra. He wrote dozens of other carols and masses. Many are still in print and are sung today in Austrian churches.
The song was sung simultaneously in English and German by troops during the Christmas truce of 1914, as it was one of the few carols that soldiers on both sides of the front line knew.
[8792 Mason / 8787 Gruber / 8774 Flamenco]
