{"apiVersion":"v1","generatedAtUtc":"2026-10-03T03:45:44.2622853Z","data":{"id":4,"slug":"silent-night","title":"Silent Night","originalTitle":"Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!","composer":"Franz Xaver Gruber","period":"Early Romantic","genre":"Carol","year":"1818","workNumber":null,"summary":"Joseph Mohr’s poem and Franz Xaver Gruber’s melody, first heard together in an Austrian parish in 1818.","creatorHeading":"Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber","creatorStory":"“Silent Night” has two clearly documented creators. Joseph Mohr (1792–1848), a Salzburg-born Catholic priest, wrote the six-stanza German poem “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” in 1816 while serving in Mariapfarr. Two years later, in Oberndorf, he asked his friend Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863) to set it to music for Christmas Eve. Mohr supplied the words; Gruber composed the melody and accompaniment.\n\nGruber was a schoolteacher, church organist, and practical working musician in nearby Arnsdorf. His original setting was conceived for two solo voices, choir, and guitar—an intimate texture far removed from many later orchestral versions. The 1846 portrait by Sebastian Stief shows Gruber after the carol had begun traveling, but before it became a global standard. Keeping Mohr and Gruber side by side in the narrative restores the collaboration behind the song.","story":"The first documented performance took place on December 24, 1818, at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf near Salzburg. Mohr sang the tenor line and played guitar; Gruber sang the lower part, with the choir joining the refrain. Mohr’s surviving handwritten copy, discovered in the twentieth century and dated to around 1820, confirms that he wrote the poem in 1816 and identifies Gruber as composer. It also complicates the familiar story that the entire song was improvised in one night because of a broken organ.\n\nTraveling singer families from the region helped carry the song beyond Austria, and translations eventually made it international. Its reach rests on musical economy: a narrow, singable contour; gently rocking meter; and phrases that leave room for breath and communal response. The four instrumental editions here preserve that calm architecture while changing resonance and color. They are new recordings of a public-domain composition, not historical performances or replicas of Gruber’s first accompaniment.","rightsNote":"Copyright in the original composition has expired. Modern editions, translated lyrics, arrangements, recordings, and sampled instruments may carry separate rights.","publishedAtUtc":"2026-10-02T01:08:16.4249129","sourceAssets":[{"id":12,"kind":"Source PDF","title":"Public Domain Song Anthology — p. 282","license":"CC0 1.0 source edition","reviewStatus":"Source verified","approvedCommentCount":0,"links":{"file":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/score/12","notationViewer":null,"rawMusicXml":null,"download":null,"downloadAccess":null,"discussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-source-12"}},{"id":13,"kind":"MusicXML","title":"Archive melody transcription","license":"Factual transcription of CC0 source","reviewStatus":"Manual review pending","approvedCommentCount":0,"links":{"file":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/score/13","notationViewer":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/musicxml/13","rawMusicXml":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/musicxml/13/raw","download":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/musicxml/13/download","downloadAccess":"authenticated-user","discussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-source-13"}}],"editorialMedia":[{"id":4,"section":"creator","title":"Franz Xaver Gruber","caption":"Sebastian Stief’s 1846 portrait of the schoolteacher, organist, and composer who wrote the melody of “Silent Night” to Joseph Mohr’s poem.","creator":"Sebastian Stief","dateLabel":"1846","sourceUrl":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franz_Xaver_Gruber_(1787-1863).jpg","rightsLabel":"Public domain","altText":"Painted portrait of Silent Night composer Franz Xaver Gruber in dark formal clothing","imageUrl":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/editorial/silent-night/franz-xaver-gruber.jpg"}],"arrangements":[{"id":16,"title":"Bright Festive","style":"Bright Festive","instrumentation":"Register-split handbell ensemble","duration":"2:48","rating":0.00,"ratingCount":0,"rankingScore":4.2,"reviewStatus":"Technical QA passed · Listening approval pending","approvedRecordingCommentCount":0,"approvedScoreCommentCount":0,"createdAtUtc":"2026-10-02T01:08:16.4249165","profiles":[{"role":"style","slug":"bright-festive","name":"Bright Festive","kind":"performance-style","status":"documented","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/bright-festive"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"handbell-choir-festive","name":"Festive Handbell Choir","kind":"instrument","status":"testable","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/handbell-choir-festive"}],"links":{"mp3Stream":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/audio/16","mp3Download":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/audio/download","mp3DownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","wavDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/audio/wav","wavDownloadAccess":"administrator-until-paid-plans-launch","notationViewer":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/score","rawMusicXml":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/score/raw","musicXmlDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/score/download","musicXmlDownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","scorePdf":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/16/score/pdf","recordingDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-audio-16","scoreDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-score-16"}},{"id":13,"title":"Classical Chamber","style":"Classical Chamber","instrumentation":"Lyrical piano · concert harp","duration":"2:48","rating":0.00,"ratingCount":0,"rankingScore":4.2,"reviewStatus":"Technical QA passed · Listening approval pending","approvedRecordingCommentCount":0,"approvedScoreCommentCount":0,"createdAtUtc":"2026-10-02T01:08:16.4249136","profiles":[{"role":"style","slug":"classical-chamber","name":"Classical Chamber","kind":"performance-style","status":"documented","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/classical-chamber"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"concert-grand-lyrical","name":"Lyrical Concert Grand","kind":"instrument","status":"approved","renderReady":true,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/concert-grand-lyrical"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"concert-harp-classical","name":"Classical Concert Harp","kind":"instrument","status":"approved","renderReady":true,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/concert-harp-classical"}],"links":{"mp3Stream":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/audio/13","mp3Download":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/audio/download","mp3DownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","wavDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/audio/wav","wavDownloadAccess":"administrator-until-paid-plans-launch","notationViewer":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/score","rawMusicXml":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/score/raw","musicXmlDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/score/download","musicXmlDownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","scorePdf":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/13/score/pdf","recordingDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-audio-13","scoreDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-score-13"}},{"id":15,"title":"Dreamy Winter","style":"Dreamy Winter","instrumentation":"D Aegean handpan","duration":"2:48","rating":0.00,"ratingCount":0,"rankingScore":4.2,"reviewStatus":"Technical QA passed · Listening approval pending","approvedRecordingCommentCount":0,"approvedScoreCommentCount":0,"createdAtUtc":"2026-10-02T01:08:16.4249163","profiles":[{"role":"style","slug":"dreamy-winter","name":"Dreamy Winter","kind":"performance-style","status":"documented","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/dreamy-winter"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"modern-handpan-gentle","name":"Gentle D Aegean Handpan","kind":"instrument","status":"approved","renderReady":true,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/modern-handpan-gentle"}],"links":{"mp3Stream":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/audio/15","mp3Download":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/audio/download","mp3DownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","wavDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/audio/wav","wavDownloadAccess":"administrator-until-paid-plans-launch","notationViewer":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/score","rawMusicXml":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/score/raw","musicXmlDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/score/download","musicXmlDownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","scorePdf":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/15/score/pdf","recordingDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-audio-15","scoreDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-score-15"}},{"id":14,"title":"Storybook Carol","style":"Storybook Carol","instrumentation":"Celesta · marimba · glockenspiel","duration":"2:48","rating":0.00,"ratingCount":0,"rankingScore":4.2,"reviewStatus":"Technical QA passed · Listening approval pending","approvedRecordingCommentCount":0,"approvedScoreCommentCount":0,"createdAtUtc":"2026-10-02T01:08:16.4249138","profiles":[{"role":"style","slug":"storybook-carol","name":"Storybook Carol","kind":"performance-style","status":"documented","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/storybook-carol"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"celesta-christmas-shimmer","name":"Celesta Christmas Shimmer","kind":"instrument","status":"testable","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/celesta-christmas-shimmer"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"marimba-concert-lyrical","name":"Lyrical Concert Marimba","kind":"instrument","status":"testable","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/marimba-concert-lyrical"},{"role":"instrument","slug":"glockenspiel-festive-sparkle","name":"Festive Glockenspiel Sparkle","kind":"instrument","status":"testable","renderReady":false,"url":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/profiles/glockenspiel-festive-sparkle"}],"links":{"mp3Stream":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/audio/14","mp3Download":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/audio/download","mp3DownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","wavDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/audio/wav","wavDownloadAccess":"administrator-until-paid-plans-launch","notationViewer":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/score","rawMusicXml":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/score/raw","musicXmlDownload":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/score/download","musicXmlDownloadAccess":"authenticated-user","scorePdf":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/media/arrangement/14/score/pdf","recordingDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-audio-14","scoreDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-score-14"}}],"videos":[],"comments":[],"links":{"self":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/works/silent-night","markdown":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/works/silent-night/index.md","web":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night","originalDescriptionDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments-description","wholeWorkDiscussion":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/works/silent-night#comments","reportCorrection":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/correction-reports","resolveForChannel":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/music/resolve","submitMissingMaterial":"https://openscorearchive.project-pioneer.com/api/v1/music/contributions"}}}