It's Dec 24th, 1818. Curate Josef Mohr and his organ player, Franz Gruber, of the St Nicholas parish in Oberndorf near Salzburg in Austria, have a problem on their hands. The church organ is faulty and can't be used for the Christmas service.
In order still to have a Celebratory service Josef Mohr suggests to his organ player he compose a song. Mohr possesses a poem he wrote in 1816. Gruber takes the poem with him and the very same day Gruber writes a melody and arranges it for 2 male voices, a choir and guitar accompaniment.
That Christmas Night the song in its six verses was performed for the very first time by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber.
For some time Silent Night remained well-known only in Oberndorf. Then in 1824/1825 organ builder Karl Mauracher visited Oberndorf and took the song with him to Fügen in Tyrol, where he gave it to the Strasser family. The Strassers were glove makers. This family performed as a choir at annual fairs and exhibitions. In 1932 they sang Silent Night at their concert in Leipzig(Germany). Another family choir from Tyrol, the Rainer family, performed Silent Night for the first time in America outside the burnt-out Trinity Church in New York City.
This way the song spread to Europe, America and to the other continents.
For further information see "Performances"