There is a legend associated with the carol that says, Fr. Mohr wanted the carol to be sung by the children of the village at the midnight Christmas Eve service, as a surprise for their parents. But in the middle of practising, the organ broke and not a note would come from it! So the children had to learn the carol only accompanied by a guitar. They learned the carol so well that they could sing it on its own without accompaniment. Have you ever heard it sung acapella by children's voices....it is one of the most heavenly sounds that exists. The first time I heard it done this way I knew I had heard the angels singing on that Bethlehem night so long ago. But back to the story, there are no records to indicate that a children's choir was involved or that the organ was broken! I personally like to believe the legend...it makes the story a better one....and those of you who write blogs....understand that it is all in the telling of a story. Anyways, at Midnight Mass in 1818, Fr. Mohr and Franz Gruber sang each of the six verses with the church choir repeating the last two lines of each verse. Mohr set down the guitar arrangement on paper around 1820 and that is the earliest manuscript that still exists. It is displayed in the Carolino Augusteum Museum in Salzburg. There are a number of manuscripts of various 'Stille Nacht' arrangement that were written by Franz Gruber in later years. The original words of the song were in German (and it was called 'Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht') and translated in to English went:
Silent night, holy night,
Bethlehem sleeps, yet what light,
Floats around the heavenly pair;
Songs of angels fills the air.
Strains of heavenly peace.
