Editing Franz Xaver Gruber (section)

=="Silent Night"==
In 1816 he took on the additional responsibilities of organist and choirmaster at the [[Nikolauskirche, Oberndorf|Nikolauskirche]] in the neighboring village of [[Oberndorf bei Salzburg|Oberndorf]].

Together with [[Joseph Mohr]], a Catholic priest who wrote the original German lyrics, Gruber composed the music for the [[Christmas carol]] ''[[Silent Night]]''. On [[Christmas Eve]] of 1818, Mohr, an assistant priest at the Nikolauskirche, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816. He asked Gruber to set the poem to music. The organ was in fine condition but a yearly tradition of sharing a new carol continued. The two men sang ''Stille Nacht'' for the first time at Christmas Mass in St Nicholas Church while Mohr played guitar and the choir repeated the last two lines of each verse. For a long time, many thought that  Silent Night was written by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] or [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]].

In later years, Gruber composed additional arrangements of the carol for organ and for organ with orchestra, as well as scores of other carols and masses, many of which are still in print and sung today in Austrian churches.