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Free chord chart

Silent Night

Words: Joseph Mohr, 1818; tr. John Freeman Young, 1863 · Tune "Stille Nacht," Franz Gruber, 1818 · Public domain

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Verse 1

CSilent night, holy night!

G7All is calm, Call is bright

F'round yon virgin Cmother and child,

Fholy infant so Ctender and mild,

G7sleep in heavenly Cpeace,

Csleep in Gheaven-G7ly Cpeace.

Verse 2

CSilent night, holy night!

G7Shepherds quake Cat the sight;

Fglories stream from Cheaven afar,

Fheavenly hosts sing CAlleluia;

G7Christ the Savior is Cborn,

CChrist the GSavior G7is Cborn!

Verse 3

CSilent night, holy night!

G7Son of God, Clove's pure light;

Fradiant beams from Cthy holy face,

Fwith the dawn of re-Cdeeming grace,

G7Jesus, Lord, at thy Cbirth,

CJesus, GLord, at G7thy Cbirth.

G7Son of God, Clove's  pure light;

FRadiant  beams from CThy holy  face,

FWith  the dawn of Credeeming  grace,

G7Jesus, CLord, at Thy birth,

CJesus, G7Lord, at CThy birth.

Chords in the key of C

About this hymn

Words
Joseph Mohr, German original 1818; English translation by John Freeman Young, first published in the early 1860s
Music
STILLE NACHT, Franz Xaver Gruber, composed December 24, 1818, in Austria
Meter
Irregular (668866)
In
766 hymnals
Scripture
Luke 2:1-20, Isaiah 7:14, John 1:1-18

The story

Joseph Mohr wrote the poem in 1816, two years before anybody sang it, while he was an assistant priest at Mariapfarr. It was first performed on Christmas Eve of 1818 at St. Nicholas church in Oberndorf, near Salzburg. Franz Gruber wrote it with guitar rather than organ, and the accounts tie that to flood damage at the church. The English version most of us know comes from John Freeman Young. Sources put that translation in the early 1860s and do not agree on the exact year, so I will leave it there. Young's version keeps only three of Mohr's six German stanzas. UNESCO added the carol to its heritage list in 2011, and it exists in around three hundred languages.

Where it fits in a service

Often used at the end of a Christmas Eve service, usually with candles and the lights down. It also fits as a quiet closing anywhere in Advent when the room needs to get still.

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