Everyone was singing it. The King of Prussia heard it and was so impressed that he ordered it to be sung every Christmas in his cathedral. But where had the carol come from? No one knew. Some said it was so beautiful that it must have been sent straight from God, without needing a human author. They called it The Song from Heaven.

It all began in the Austrian village of Oberndorf, some eleven miles from Salzburg. Joseph Mohr, who was assistant priest at the church of St Nicholas, determined to provide something special for his congregation at the midnight Christmas service. He wanted to make up for the fact that the organ had broken down. The church lay so close to the river that damp and rust had affected the organ and his good friend, Franz Gruber, could not squeeze a note out of it. So on Christmas Eve 1818 Joseph sat down and wrote:

He finished the poem and sent it post haste to Gruber, asking him to set it to music ready for that night. They would sing it together, using a guitar for accompaniment. Gruber got to work quickly and wrote the tune in a couple of hours, giving him time to practise it with the choir before midnight arrived. That self-same night the people of Oberndorf listened as Mohr and Gruber sang, the choir repeating the last lines in full harmony.

Christmas passed, spring came and an organ builder arrived to do repairs. Perhaps a copy of Silent Night still lay in the cupboard, for he found it and was delighted by it. As he travelled around, mending and building organs, he took the carol with him. Two strolling families of singers heard it and made it part of their repertoire. One family performed it before the King of Prussia, while the other travelled as far as the United States, making the carol famous there.

The Song from Heaven, written by an unknown poet and musician in a single day, became the carol still sung and loved at Christmas time all over the world.