This holiday season marks 200 years since the composition of the Christmas carol “Silent Night.”

The original poem was authored by Joseph Mohr, a young priest from Salzburg, and later teacher Franz Xaver Gruber added the melody to the words on Mohr's request.

Colleen Gray, professor of music and voice and chairman of the music department at Slippery Rock University, said, “It was in 1818, as far as I understand it. Salzburg was close to the Austro-Hungarian border, and there was turmoil all the time.

“Joseph Mohr was the assistant priest at the church of Saint Nicholas. He wrote the text of 'Silent Night.'

“A couple of years later a friend of his, Fraz Gruber, a church organist, set it to music,” Gray said.

She added the story goes the organ in Mohr's church was broken before Christmas Eve.

“He needed a simple song. 'Silent Night' was performed on a guitar. Gruber used the text Mohr had written,” Gray said. “It was performed on Christmas Eve 1818.”

From that first performance, the popularity of “Silent Night” spread.

Gray said, “It was by accident. An organ repairman saw a copy of the music on the organ and asked to share it.”

According to tradition, “Silent Night” was spread by families who heard the song while visiting churches in neighboring villages and brought the tune back to their own houses of worship.

“Silent Night” was translated into English in 1863 by an Episcopal priest named John Freeman Young.

But the song still hadn't become well known in the English-speaking world by World War I.

Legend has it during a Christmas truce between the English and German armies, “Silent Night” was the only carol the two opposing sides had in common, but in reality the Germans were probably more familiar with the carol.

They were the ones who most frequently sang “Stille Nacht,” while the English responded with a variety of tunes.

Christmas music took off in the two decades after World War I, coinciding with the rise of radio and the music industry.

In the almost nine decades since, the song has been recorded and rerecorded by countless artists. Time Magazine found that “Silent Night” is by far the most recorded carol in America since 1978, outstripping runner-up “Joy to the World” almost two to one

Gray said, “There are four verses to 'Silent Night.' A lot of people just know the first verse.”

The Rev. Bob Zimmerman, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, 420 Beaver St., Mars, said “Silent Night” is a perennial choice at his church.

“We always include 'Silent Night' at our services. You can't have Christmas Eve without 'Silent Night,'” he said. “We do three verses in English.”

Carol Kaltenhauser, who is stepping down this year as director of cantatas at Concordia Lutheran Ministries in Jefferson Township, said, “It is a very simple song to sing.

“The story goes on Christmas Eve something went wrong with the organ. He (Mohr) had to have music for Christmas,” said Kaltenhauser.

“Gruber wrote the song in the key of C, the simplest key there is. And the music only has three chords,” she added.

In fact the song has proved so popular she was able to visit a replica of the original chapel where Gruber composed the music that has been replicated in Frankenmuth, Mich.

Zimmerman chalks up “Silent Night's” popularity to the fact “it's a very contemplative song.”

Gray said, “A lot of churches still sing it in German.”

She said the song “just touches people's hearts. From what I understand it is the top-selling Christmas song of all time,” she said.

And why is that?

Gray said, “It's a simple song to play and sing. It's very beautiful. It is very simple but I like it anyway.”

Todd Wentworth, the music pastor at First Baptist Church, 221 W. New Castle St., said of “Silent Night,” “We use it as we are lighting our candles at the very end of our Christmas Eve service.”

Wentworth said, “We are doing a 6 p.m. service that will go to about 7 p.m. The pastor reads Luke, Chapter 2, and we all blow out our candles. It's tradition.

“We only sing the first verse,” he said. “That's the one everyone knows. Most people would be lost after the first verse.

“Sometimes we do it with a violin or a guitar or a piano,” said Wentworth. “The tune is easy to remember. It's very singable.

“What's interesting about the story is if you read Luke or Matthew, there's nothing that says that night was silent at all,” said Wentworth.

“There was an annunciation and an angel army. With the census being taken, Bethlehem was a very busy place. There was no room at the inn,” he said.

“But as the shepherds approached the manger, one can only imagine the silence, reverence and awe at this time,” Wentworth said. 'This is the silence the author of the poem is referencing.”