Silent Night, known in German as Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, was first performed on Christmas Eve at the church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, in what is now Austria. The words were written by the priest Joseph Mohr, who was serving as assistant priest there, and the melody was composed by the local teacher and organist Franz Xaver Gruber. According to tradition it was performed for the first time with guitar accompaniment, as the church organ was out of order. The carol spread through the Tyrol region with traveling singers and was translated into several hundred languages and dialects. It is now one of the best-known Christmas songs in the world, and in 2011 it was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in Austria.
Before and after
- 30 May 1814Birth of Mikhail Bakunin
- 30 May 1814Treaty of Paris
- from 6 September 1814 to 11 September 1814Battle of Plattsburgh
- from 12 October 1814 to 20 September 1866Kingdom of Hanover
- c. 1810sPublication of Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht
- 1815Congress of Vienna
- from 1815 to 1871Unification of Italy
- 1815William Smith publishes the first geological map of England and Wales
- 8 January 1815Battle of New Orleans
More in Art, literature & culture
- from 18th century to 19th centuryRomanticism
- 1830Publication of Book of Mormon
- 1890Rise of Art Nouveau
- c. 1900sRise of Expressionism
- 1907Rise of cubism
- c. 1910sRise of Dada
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.