Silent Night

• Rangeoctave and a fourth
• Notes46, 11 different
• ScaleMajor, no accidentals
• Time6/8
• Length hereabout 29 s
• Source editionC major

About Silent Night

Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist, wrote the melody on Christmas Eve 1818 for a poem by the young priest Joseph Mohr, and the two sang it that night in the church of St Nicholas in Oberndorf with Mohr accompanying on guitar. It spread through travelling Tyrolean singers and has since been translated into several hundred languages.

The melody most people sing today differs slightly from Gruber’s manuscript — it has smoothed a few of his dotted rhythms and one or two notes. This is that familiar form. It is a slow lullaby in six-eight, and its range of an octave and a fourth is what decides which instruments can play it.

Play Silent Night on your instrument

25 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 25 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.

• Kalimba tabsas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Piano letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Mbira tabsas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Oud notesas written · C3–F4 · octave and a fourth
• Violin notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Cello notesas written · C3–F4 · octave and a fourth
• Erhu notesas written · D4–G5 · octave and a fourth
• Dulcimer tabas written · D4–G5 · octave and a fourth
• Xylophone letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Marimba letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Glockenspiel letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Steel Drum letter notesas written · F4–B♭5 · octave and a fourth
• Ocarina notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Harmonica tabsas written · C5–F6 · octave and a fourth
• Trumpet notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Clarinet notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Saxophone notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Flute notesas written · G4–C6 · octave and a fourth
• Recorder notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Tuba notesas written · B♭1–E♭3 · octave and a fourth
• Euphonium notesas written · B♭2–E♭4 · octave and a fourth
• Trombone notesas written · B♭2–E♭4 · octave and a fourth
• Accordion letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Harp letter notesas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth
• Lyre tabsas written · C4–F5 · octave and a fourth

Instruments that cannot play it

• Guzheng — it would need G4, C♯5, G5, which it does not have in any size or key here.
• Handpan — it would need B4, D5, E5, F5, which it does not have in any size or key here.

Silent Night letter notes

Written in C major, from C4 to F5, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.

Where these notes come from

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain.

The melody was not written down from memory. It is derived from a published transcription and compared, note for note, with independent ones:

• Followed: Wikipedia, “Silent Night” (engraved score)
• Checked against: Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024) — the same notes throughout
• Checked against: Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers — the same notes throughout

The contemporary form of Gruber’s melody, as Wikipedia engraves it beside the first edition.

More christmas songs & carols

• Jingle BellsJames Lord Pierpont, 1857
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas19th century or earlier
• Deck the Halls16th century (tune)
• O Christmas Tree16th century (tune)
• Joy to the WorldLowell Mason, 1836
• Hark! The Herald Angels SingFelix Mendelssohn, 1840
• O Come, All Ye FaithfulJohn Francis Wade, c. 1743
• God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen18th century or earlier
• Away in a MangerJames R. Murray, 1887
• The First Noel1823 (in print)
• Good King Wenceslas1582 (tune)
• Up on the HousetopBenjamin Hanby, 1864
• Jolly Old Saint Nicholas1874 (music in print)
• O Holy NightAdolphe Adam, 1847
• Auld Lang Syne18th century
• Carol of the BellsMykola Leontovych, 1916