Silent Night

Year: 1816

Written By: Josef Mohr

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Silent Night lives in the hearts of millions of people around the world at Christmas time. It was a song that upon its release touched many people's lives and is still doing so today. Silent Night is sung in many chapels, churches and even on the radio and TV during the much-celebrated Christmas season.

The song was first written in German and called Stille Nacht by Josef Mohr. He then took it to a schoolteacher named Franz Guber to set the words to music. It is not known for sure when the song was actually written but there are rumors that a handwritten diary was found that belonged to Josef Mohr in 1995. He had written that the song was written in 1816 and that it was put to music in 1818.

The first singing of Silent Night was at St. Nicholas church in oberndorf, Austria on Christmas 1818. That first singing filled the hearts and eyes of many. There are many rumors as to the inspiration for the song but nothing concrete has ever been found.
Silent Night is the story of the birth of the little Christ child and has been translated into over 44 different languages over the years. In the Christmas truce of 1914, the song was sung by the German, French and English troops because it was the only Christmas carol that they all knew.

Over 300 different artists have recorded silent Night now and every one of them puts their heart and soul into the song. Some of the more popular artist to give their rendition of the beloved carol is Stevie Nix, Bing Cosby, and Boyz to Men. There are many instrumental versions of the song out there also including one by Mannheim Steamroller. The song even prompted the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley to include on one of his Christmas albums.

While the song hasn't received the media, acclaim that songs like Rudolph and Frosty have it is still a wonderful song in its on right and is even sung without music upon occasion. The song also came to the live screen in 1988 in a documentary called Silent Mouse that told the story of Silent Night from a mouse's point of view.

Churches continue to sing the song after all of these years and artist continues to put it on their Christmas albums. In recent years, Brad Paisley and Annie Lennox have recorded it just to name a few.