The time around 1818 was very difficult. The Year Without Summer, caused by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, led to severe famine. The Napoleonic Wars exhausted people. In 1816, the town at the river bend of the Salzach – today Laufen and Oberndorf – was divided into two towns in two different countries during the border demarcation of the Congress of Vienna. For centuries, the river with its increasingly diminishing salt transport formed the foundation for the life of boatmen and shipbuilders in this area. This source of income was also threatening to disappear. A worrying time for the residents.

This very difficult time was probably a reason for the two song creators to first perform “Silent Night! Holy Night” in the then Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf near Salzburg. It was meant to give people a bit of comfort and not let hope for better times fade away.

The origin of the song is just as simple and unassuming as the song itself.:

Joseph Mohr, a modest assistant priest, wrote a touching poem in 1816 as a young coadjutor in Mariapfarr. Inspired by the difficult times and the prevailing poverty everywhere. He took this poem with him to Oberndorf.

On December 24, 1818, he asked his friend, the village schoolmaster and organist from Arnsdorf, Franz Xaver Gruber, to set the poem to music. Teacher Gruber, who was also employed as an organist in Oberndorf, composed the haunting melody in his hometown of Arnsdorf, written for two solo voices, choir, and guitar accompaniment.

On Christmas Eve 1818, after the Christmas Mass, in front of the nativity scene, they performed “Silent Night! Holy Night!” for the first time. Joseph Mohr sang the tenor part and accompanied on the guitar, Franz Xaver Gruber sang the lower bass part. The church singers repeated the final four bars in chorus. The song immediately resonated with the rather simple population at the time, which consisted of Salzach boatmen and shipbuilders.