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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright,
'Round yon Virgin Mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah!
Christ the Saviour is born!
Christ the Saviour is born!
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light,
Radiant beams from Thy Holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Silent Night" — "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" in the original German — was composed on Christmas Eve 1818 in the village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg in Austria. The words were written by Joseph Mohr, a young priest, and the melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist. Mohr had written the poem two years earlier; Gruber set it to music for guitar and two solo voices when the church organ broke down, and the carol was first performed at Midnight Mass at the Church of Saint Nicholas that night.
The carol spread slowly throughout the German-speaking world, carried by travelling folk singers, before being translated into English in 1859 by John Freeman Young. It has since been translated into more than 140 languages and is performed every Christmas Eve across the world.
In 1914, during the First World War Christmas truce on the Western Front, "Silent Night" was among the carols sung by German soldiers — heard across no man's land by British troops, who responded with their own Christmas songs. This moment has become one of the most famous stories in the history of the carol, a reminder of what music can briefly accomplish even in the worst of circumstances.
Our arrangement treats the carol with the reverence it deserves.
