Silent Night

The words to Silent Night were written in 1816 in the form of a poem, Stille Nacht, by Father Joseph Mohr, a priest of the village of Oberndorf, Austria. The tune was apparently composed by Mohr's friend, Franx Xavier Gruber on Christmas Eve 1818. The piece was originally written for the guitar. It was first performed at Midnight Mass at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf.

Here is the original German version:

Stile Nacht

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knab im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Gottes Sohn! O wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da schlägt uns die rettende Stund,
Christus in deiner Geburt!
Christus in deiner Geburt!

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Die der Welt Heil gebracht,
Aus des Himmels goldenen Höhn
Uns der Gnaden Fülle läßt seh'n
Jesum in Menschengestalt,
Jesum in Menschengestalt.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Wo sich heut alle Macht
Väterlicher Liebe ergoß
Und als Bruder huldvoll umschloß
Jesus die Völker der Welt,
Jesus die Völker der Welt.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Lange schon uns bedacht,
Als der Herr vom Grimme befreit,
In der Väter urgrauer Zeit
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß,
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß.

Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Alleluja.
Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah:
Christus, der Retter ist da!
Christus, der Retter ist da!

Silent Night in other languages

Afrikaans, Breton, Cornish, Bulgarian, Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, Dutch, Danish, Esperanto, Estonian, English, Finnish, French, German, Irish, Italian, Manx, Norweigan, Polish, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh

Other songs

Information about German | Fraktur script | Useful phrases | Silly phrases | Numbers | Colours | Family words | Time | Weather | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials

Links

German version of Silent Night with a literal English translation
http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=1303&c=180

Recordings of Silent Night in German
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4puLybRGSAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9JXATSbywc

Background information about Silent Night
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night_(song)

Silent Night in many more languages
http://www.silentnight.web.za/translate/index.html

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