Did you know that the song ‘Silent Night‘ was actually written for and on the guitar? It was written in 1816 by Father Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber. I’ve always LOVED the story of how this song was originally composed.
Imagine that you lived in a small town in Austria and the organ broke right before one of the most important Christian Holidays, Christmas. The snow was so thick that the organ repairman couldn’t come to fix it. Sometimes our biggest blessings come in times of difficult trials!
Father Joseph had written a beautiful poem and shared the lyrics with the organist, Franz Gruber. Inspired by the words, he set the lyrics to the melody that we sing today, Silent Night. That night, it was introduced to the world with just the guitar accompaniment.
Today, this song that had such humble beginnings, is now sung in over 300 languages. Yes… that’s over THREE hundred languages! I’m sure Father Mohr and Franz could have never imagined in their wildest dreams how many millions and perhaps billions of people have loved singing their simple and beautiful song!
There’s a hidden message for each one of us in this story. You never know how the ‘little’ thing you do today for God may touch and bless people in ways that you could never imagine!
One of my brothers produces Christian materials for Children and his materials are being translated into many languages. Every time we talk, I hear more stories of how people are being blessed with his work.
Here’s a simple arrangement of the song for you to play.
Silent Night – On Guitar
This is one of the songs included in our ‘Easy Christmas Songs For Guitar‘ program. You can find out more about that program here.
There is also a form to download the music to ‘Silent Night’ free.
Christmas Day celebrates one of the two most important days in human history! My favorite day is Easter. Two pivotal days are the Birth and Resurrection of Christ!
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