- This article is about Franz Gruber, the Austrian composer. There is also an article on the actor in the Japanese Tokusatsu movie and TV productions named Franz Gruber (actor).
Franz Xaver Gruber (November 25, 1787 – June 7, 1863), was an Austrian primary school teacher and church organist in the village of Arnsdorf. At the same time he was organist and choirmaster at St. Nicholas Church in the neighboring village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg and then in later years moved on to Hallein, Salzburg.
Together with Josef Mohr (original German lyrics), a Catholic priest, Gruber composed the Christmas carol Silent Night. On December 24, 1818, Mohr, an assistant pastor at St. Nicholas, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816. He asked Gruber to write a melody and guitar arrangement for the poem. At Christmas Mass, while Mohr played his guitar, the two men sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time. The St. Nicholas choir repeated the last two lines of each verse.
In later years, Gruber wrote additional arrangements of the carol for organ and for organ with orchestra. He wrote dozens of other carols and masses. Many are still in print and are sung today in Austrian churches.
External links
- Silent Night Association Life of Gruber
- History of song
- Born between Salzburg and Braunau am Inn
- Free scores by Franz Gruber in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
- Free scores by Franz Gruber in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
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