Editing Franz Xaver Gruber

{{short description|Austrian composer known for 'Silent Night' (1787-1863)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Franz Xaver Gruber
| image        = Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863).jpg
| caption      = Portrait by Sebastian Stief (Hallein,1846), Silent Night Museum, Hallein
| alt          = <!-- alt is a description of image, not same as caption, see WP:ALT -->
| birth_date   = 25 November 1787
| birth_place  = [[Hochburg-Ach]], [[Upper Austria]], [[Habsburg monarchy]]
| death_date   = {{Death date|1863|6|7|df=y}} (aged 75)
| death_place  = [[Hallein]], [[Duchy of Salzburg|Salzburg]], [[Austrian Empire]]
| occupation   = {{hlist|Teacher|church organist|composer}}
| works        = ''Stille Nacht'' (''[[Silent Night]]'')
}}

'''Franz Xaver Gruber''' (25 November 1787 – 7 June 1863) was an [[Austria]]n primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of [[Lamprechtshausen|Arnsdorf]], who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht" ("[[Silent Night]]").

==Life==
Gruber was born on 25 November 1787 in the village of [[Hochburg-Ach]], Upper Austria, the son of linen weavers, Josef and Maria Gruber. His given name was recorded in the baptismal record as "Conrad Xavier," but this was later changed to "Franz Xaver". The Hochburger schoolteacher Andreas Peterlechner gave him music lessons.<ref name=stille>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stillenacht.at/en/gruber.asp |title="Franz Xaver Gruber", Stille Nacht Gesellschaft |access-date=3 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118231411/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/gruber.asp |archive-date=18 January 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 {{multiple image
 | width = 250
 | image1 = Volksschule Arnsdorf.JPG
 | caption1 = Gruber taught at the primary school in Arnsdorf
 | image2 = Stille Nacht kapelle Bild Franz Xaver Gruber.JPG
 | caption2 = Portrait in the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf bei Salzburg
 }}
{{listen|type=music|image=none|help=no
 | filename    = Silent Night (choral).ogg
 | title       = Silent Night
 | description = Choral version by United States Army Chorus
 | format      = [[Ogg]]
}}

Gruber worked as a weaver until the age of 18, then trained to become a schoolteacher. He completed his music education studying with the church organist of Burghausen, Georg Hartdobler. In 1807 Gruber became a schoolteacher in Arnsdorf. He also became the church caretaker and organist. In 1808 he married a widow, Maria Elisabeth Fischinger Engelsberger. They had two children, both of whom died young. After the death of his first wife in 1825, Gruber married a former student, Maria Breitfuss. They had ten children, four of whom survived to adulthood. In 1829 Gruber moved to Berndorf, and in later years to [[Hallein]], [[Duchy of Salzburg|Salzburg]], where he was named choir director, singer and organist.<ref name=stille/>

Maria Gruber died in childbirth in 1841. The following year he married Katherine Wimmer.<ref name=stille/>

=="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.

== Family ==
Gruber was the son of Joseph Gruber (1761-1821) and Anna Gruber (1766-1825). He was married three times: first to Elizabeth Tischinger (1781-1825), then to Maria Breitfuss (1806-1841) and finally to Katharina Wimmer (1842-1873). He had two sons with his second wife: Felix (1823-1868) and Franz (1827-1917).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Franz Xaver Gruber}}
* [https://www.stillenacht.com/en/protagonists/franz-xaver-gruber-1787-1863/ Franz Xaver Gruber (1787 – 1863) Teacher, musician and composer of the melody of “Silent Night”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301212549/https://www.stillenacht.com/en/protagonists/franz-xaver-gruber-1787-1863/ |date=1 March 2019 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130118231411/http://www.stillenacht.at/en/gruber.asp Silent Night Association Life of Gruber]
* [http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm History of song]
* [http://www.maislinger.net/liste_english/ Born between Salzburg and Braunau am Inn]
* {{IMSLP|Gruber, Franz Xaver|Franz Xaver Gruber}}
* {{ChoralWiki|Franz Xaver Gruber}}
* [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?Composer=GruberFX Free scores] at the [[Mutopia Project]]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Franz Xaver Gruber}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3513}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruber, Franz}}
[[Category:1787 births]]
[[Category:1863 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century composers]]
[[Category:19th-century Austrian male musicians]]
[[Category:19th-century organists]]
[[Category:Austrian classical organists]]
[[Category:Austrian composers]]
[[Category:Austrian male composers]]
[[Category:Austrian schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Austrian male classical organists]]
[[Category:People from Braunau am Inn District]]
[[Category:People from Hallein]]
[[Category:People from the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Salzburg]]