Silent Night
Christmas · 1800s · Melody by Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818; German words by Joseph Mohr, 1816; English translation by John Freeman Young, 1859
Sing Silent Night with pitch feedback
“Silent Night” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 126 bpm in 6 beats to the bar. The 6 notes span E4 to G4 — 3 semitones — which rates Easy to sing, and a full 4-pass session runs about 0:23.
3 semitones as transcribed. The practice room transposes it to sit in your own range.
- One time through
- 0:06 at 126 bpm
- A full session
- 0:23 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a third or more
- 0
Silent Night lyrics, as transcribed here
- Silent night,
- holy night,
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Gruber (d. 1863) composed the tune in 1818 for Mohr’s 1816 text; the standard English translation dates to 1859. All are long out of copyright.
- Attribution
- Melody by Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818; German words by Joseph Mohr, 1816; English translation by John Freeman Young, 1859
- Language
- English
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Tags describe what the melody asks of a voice, not what it sounds like — “christmas” is the reason to pick it on a given day.