Biography
It is widely recognized that Franz Gruber wrote the music for the Christmas hymn "Stille Nacht," known in English as Silent Night. Legend holds that rodents destroyed the church organ's bellows, forcing the debut performance to rely on guitar rather than the originally planned instrumentation. Priest Josef Mohr, who supplied the lyrics, had specifically asked Gruber to create the melody. The work emerged from the Germanic Weihnachtslieder tradition, blending Austrian folk melodies with Italian pastorelles. Gruber's training occurred under Burghausen organist Hartdobler, who taught him to accompany choral services by realizing figured bass.