Editing Silent Night (section)

==History==
"{{Lang|de|Stille Nacht|italic=no}}" was first performed on [[Christmas Eve]], 1818, at the [[Nikolauskirche, Oberndorf|Nikolauskirche]], the parish church of [[Oberndorf bei Salzburg|Oberndorf]], a village in the [[Austrian Empire]] on the [[Salzach]] river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the aftermath of the [[Napoleonic Wars]],<ref name="SI"/> he had written the poem "{{Lang|de|Stille Nacht|italic=no}}" in 1816 at [[Mariapfarr]], the hometown of his father in the Salzburg [[Tamsweg District|Lungau]] region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest.<ref name="icce">{{cite journal | url=http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME02/Silent_Night_History.shtml | title=Silent Night, Holy Night | first=Bill | last=Egan | date=December 1999 | journal=Soundscapes | volume=2 | publisher=[[University of Groningen]] | issn=1567-7745 | access-date=26 December 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216175758/http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME02/Silent_Night_History.shtml | archive-date=16 December 2017 |url-status=dead | df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The melody was composed by [[Franz Xaver Gruber]], schoolmaster and [[organist]] in the nearby village of {{ill|Arnsdorf (Lamprechtshausen)|de|Arnsdorf (Gemeinde Lamprechtshausen)|lt=Arnsdorf}}, now part of [[Lamprechtshausen]]. On Christmas Eve, 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and [[guitar]] accompaniment for that night's mass, after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ.<ref name="SI"/><ref name=bbc>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christmas/carols_2.shtml |title=Christmas carols |publisher=BBC |date=4 August 2009 |access-date=6 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522000130/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christmas/carols_2.shtml |archive-date=22 May 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> The church was eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the [[Silent-Night-Chapel]]. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.<ref name="icce"/>

According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the instrument at the Oberndorf church, was enamoured of the song, and took the composition home with him to the [[Zillertal]].<ref name="spreading">{{cite web | url=http://www.stillenacht.at/en/spreading_song.asp | title=Spreading of the Song Locally | publisher=Silent Night Association | access-date=22 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217094807/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/spreading_song.asp | archive-date=17 December 2017 |url-status=live | df=dmy-all}}</ref> From there, two travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, included the tune in their shows. The Rainers were already singing it around Christmas 1819, and they once performed it for an audience that included [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Franz I of Austria]] and [[Alexander I of Russia]], as well as making the first performance of the song in the U.S., in New York City in 1839.<ref name="SI"/> By the 1840s the song was well known in [[Lower Saxony]] and was reported to be a favourite of [[Frederick William IV of Prussia]]. During this period, the melody changed slightly to become the version that is commonly played today.<ref name="icce"/><ref name="spreading"/>

[[File:Autograph Mohr Stille Nacht.png|thumb|Mohr's autograph, 1820/1825]]
Over the years, because the original [[manuscript]] had been lost, Mohr's name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many people assumed the melody was composed by a more famous composer, and it was variously attributed to [[ Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Beethoven]] or [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]].<ref name="icce"/> However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers as {{circa|1820}}. It states that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818. This is the earliest manuscript that exists and the only one in Mohr's handwriting.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.stillenacht.at/en/origin_song.asp | title=Origin of the Song | publisher=Silent Night Association | access-date=22 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215204225/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/origin_song.asp | archive-date=15 December 2017 |url-status=live | df=dmy-all}}</ref>

;Original melody:
:<score sound="1">
<<
\new Staff <<
  \new Voice="melody" \relative c'' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
    \autoBeamOff
\tempo 4 = 60 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
    \voiceOne
    \language "deutsch"
    \key d \major
    \time 6/8
    a8. [ h16 ] a8 fis4 h8\rest
    a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
    e8. [ dis16 ] e8 cis4 h8\rest
    d8. [ cis16 ] d8 a4 h8\rest
    h4 h8 d8. [ cis16 ] h8
    a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
    h4 h8 d8. [ cis16 ] h8
    a8. h16 a8 fis4 h8\rest
    cis8. cis16 cis8 e8. d16 cis8
    d4. ( fis4 ) h,8\rest
    d8. a16 fis8 a8. g16 e8
    d4.~ d4 h'8\rest
  }
  \new Voice \relative c' {
    \voiceTwo
    \autoBeamOff
    %\omit "Rest_engraver"
    fis8. [ g16 ] fis8 d4 s8
    fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
    g8. [ fis16 ] g8 e4 s8
    fis8. [ e16 ] fis8 fis4 s8
    g4 g8 h8. [ a16 ] g8
    fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
    g4 g8 h8. [ a16 ] g8
    fis8. g16 fis8 d4 s8
    e8. e16 e8 g8. fis16 e8
    fis4. ( a4 ) s8
    fis8. fis16 d8 fis8. e16 cis8
    d4.~ d4
  }
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
  Stil -- le Nacht! Hei -- li -- ge Nacht!
  Al -- les schläft; ein -- sam wacht
  Nur das trau -- te hei -- li -- ge Paar.
  Hol -- der Knab’ im lok -- kig -- ten Haar,
  schla -- fe in himm -- li -- scher Ruh! __
  Schla -- fe in himm -- li -- scher Ruh! __
}
>>
</score>

The first edition was published by {{ill|August Robert Friese|de|lt=Friese}} in 1833 in a collection of ''Four Genuine Tyrolean Songs'', with the following musical text:<ref>[http://www.henle.de/blog/en/2012/12/24/%e2%80%98silent-night%e2%80%99-revisited/ "Silent Night" revisited] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827004545/http://www.henle.de/blog/en/2012/12/24/%e2%80%98silent-night%e2%80%99-revisited/ |date=27 August 2016}} by Norbert Müllemann, [[G. Henle Verlag]], 24 December 2012</ref>

[[File:Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863).jpg|thumb|upright|Franz Xaver Gruber, painted by Sebastian Stief (1846)]]
:<score sound="1">
\transpose c d \relative c'' {
  \key c \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
  \time 6/8 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 60 \autoBeamOff
  g8.^"First edition" [a16] g8 e4. | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d16. [b32] b4. | c4 c16. [g32] g4. | a4 a8 c8. b16 a8 | g8. a16 g8 e4. |
  a4 a8 c8. b16 a8 | g8. a16 g8 e4. | d'4 d8 f8.-> d16 b8 | c4. (e4) r8 | c8. [g16] e8 g8. f16 d8 | c4.~ c4 r8 \bar "|."
}
</score>

The contemporary version, as in the [[#choral|choral example]] below, is:
{{anchor|score}}
:<score sound="1">
\transpose c d \relative c'' {
  \key c \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
  \time 6/8 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 60 \autoBeamOff
  g8.^"Contemporary" [(a16)] g8 e4. | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d8 b4. | c4 c8 g4. | a4 a8 c8. [b16] a8 | g8. [a16] g8 e4. |
  a4 a8 c8. [b16] a8 | g8. [a16] g8 e4. | d'4 d8 f8.-> [d16] b8 | c4. (e4) r8 | c8. [(g16)] e8 g8. [f16] d8 | c4.~ c4 r8 \bar "|."
}

</score>