In 1826 the assistant pastor of St. Nicholas Church, Joseph Mohr was troubled. On Christmas Eve morning he went to his church in Obendorf, Austria to make preparations for the service that night. When he tested the organ he found that mice had eaten through the bellows and the organ wouldn't play. He was supposed to have tested the organ earlier in the week but didn't. Now there was no time to get a repair man to the church located high in the Austrian Alps... there would be no music at the Christmas Eve service.
Mohr went into the church office and sat at the desk thinking of what he could do. He decided to write a poem celebrating the glory of the birth of Christ. He wrote six stanzas then took the poem to his friend, musician Franz Gruber who lived near the church. He told Gruber what had happened and asked him if he could set the words to music. They worked on their new song all afternoon. That night when it was time for music Mohr and Gruber stood at the front of the sanctuary. Gruber began playing his guitar and they sang their new song. The congregation sat in stunned silence. Most had never heard anything so beautiful. When Mohr and Gruber finished, some in the congregation had tears in their eyes. Mohr and Gruber little dreamed at the time that their melody would become one of the greatest Christmas carols ever written.
Their new composition was entitled: "Silent Night, Holy Night"
