Silent Night! Holy Night!

Representative Text

1 Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child;
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

2 Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight:
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior is born!
Christ, the Savior is born!

3 Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Source: Catholic Book of Worship III #332

Author: Joseph Mohr

Joseph Mohr was born into a humble family–his mother was a seamstress and his father, an army musketeer. A choirboy in Salzburg Cathedral as a youth, Mohr studied at Salzburg University and was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church in 1815. Mohr was a priest in various churches near Salzburg, including St. Nicholas Church. He spent his later years in Hintersee and Wagrein. Bert Polman… Go to person page >

Translator: Jane M. Campbell

Campbell, Jane Montgomery, daughter of the Rev. A. Montgomery Campbell, born in London, 1817, died at Bovey Tracey, Nov. 15, 1878. Miss Campbell contributed in 1861, a number of translations from the German to the Rev. C. S. Bere's Garland of Songs; or, an English Liederkranz, 1862; and also to his Children’s Choral Book, 1869. The best known and most widely used of these translations is a portion of "Im Anfang war's auf Erden," as the harvest hymn, "We plough the fields and scatter.” Miss Campbell also published A Handbook for Singers, Lond., Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, n.d. This small work contains the musical exercises which she taught in her father's parish school. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)  Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Silent night, holy night, All is dark, save the light
Title: Silent Night! Holy Night!
German Title: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
Author: Joseph Mohr
Translator: Jane M. Campbell (1863)
Meter: 6.6.8.9.6.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

STILLE NACHT

Although he composed nearly one hundred works, Franz Gruber is remembered for only one–the tune of "Silent Night," composed on Christmas Eve, 1818. He scored the tune for tenor and bass soli (sung by Mohr and Gruber on that night) with the final phrase to be repeated in harmony (sung by the villag…

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NATIVITY (Barnby)


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Catholic Book of Worship III #332

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