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Ever since Austrian organ-builder Karl Mauracher, provided some traveling folk singers with an arrangement of "Silent Night," the world has been singing the wrong melody. Somewhere between the time the "Silent Night" melody was first set down on paper by Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818 and when Mauracher presented it to the Rainer Family and the Strasser Family in Austria's Ziller Valley, several notes were lost from the melody and several others were changed. For many years, the Silent Night Association, in Oberndorf, Austria has been trying to promote the use of the original Franz Xaver Gruber melody. Despite "urban legends" which claim that the carol was forgotten by the composers after its first performance, there are several Gruber arrangements of the carol and one arrangement by the man who wrote the words, Fr. Joseph Mohr. Since 1998, choral directors around the globe have been printing out an 1855 Franz Gruber arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for soloists, choir and organ, which was made available at no charge via the Internet. Once again people everywhere can print out the sheet music to share (free) with their church choirs and community or school choral groups. You can view the sheet music and print it out by using the buttons below. |
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