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First Performance at Nikolauskirche

When
24 December 1818
Where
Nikolauskirche
Part of
First performance of 'Silent Night' at Oberndorf

Mohr and Gruber sang 'Stille Nacht' at the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf on Christmas Eve 1818, with Mohr on guitar.

Mohr walked the three kilometres from his home in Oberndorf bei Salzburg to visit Gruber in Arnsdorf bei Laufen, seeking a melody for the midnight Mass. Gruber composed the music, possibly due to organ damage from flooding. The two men sang the carol, with Mohr playing guitar and the choir repeating the last two lines of each verse.

Sources

  1. Silent Night Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-11
  2. Franz Xaver Gruber Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-23
  3. Joseph Mohr Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-09

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.