Silent Night (arr Swearingen)
Franz Gruber (arr. James Swearingen)
General Info
Year: 1818 / 2008
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Voice and guitar
Publisher: C.L. Barnhouse
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $68.00 | Score Only (print) - $7.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I
E-flat Alto Saxophone II/E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bells
- Chimes
- Marimba
- Suspended Cymbal
- Vibraphone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Together with Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest who wrote the original German lyrics, Gruber composed the music for the Christmas carol Silent Night. On Christmas Eve of 1818. Mohr, an assistant pastor at St Nicholas, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816. He asked Gruber to set the poem to music. The church organ had broken down, so Gruber produced a melody with guitar arrangement for the poem. The two men sang Stille Nacht for the first time at Christmas Mass in St. Nicholas Church while Mohr played guitar and the choir repeated the last two lines of each verse.
In later years, Gruber composed additional arrangements of the carol for organ and for organ with orchestra, as well as scores of other carols and masses, many of which are still in print and sung today in Austrian churches.
- Program Note from Wikipedia
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
- Audio CD: Grisham Middle School Band (Ron Pierce, conductor) - 2008
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Orcas Island (Wash.) Community Band (Karen Key Speck, conductor) – 14 December 2019
- Waterford (N.Y.) Halfmoon High School Band (Jared Kinney, conductor) – December 2017
- Grisham Middle School (Austin, Tx.) Band (Ron Pierce, conductor) – 18 December 2008 (2008 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Silent Night (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Booker) (1818/2015/2020)
All Wind Works
- All is Calm (arr. Smith) (2002)
- Fantasia on Silent Night (arr. Bond) (1818/2011)
- Season of Peace (arr. Milford) (2014)
- Silent Night (arr. O'Bryant) (1818)
- Silent Night (arr. Clark) (1818/2001)
- Silent Night (arr. Dawson) (1818/1992)
- Silent Night (arr. Holcombe) (1818/1993/2008)
- Silent Night (arr. Marlatt) (1818/2014)
- Silent Night (arr. Swearingen) (1818/2008)
- Silent Night (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Booker) (1818/2015/2020)
- Silent Night in Gotham (arr. Giroux)
- Stille Nacht (arr. Davis and Longfield) (1818/1987?)
- Stille Nacht (arr. Davis and Vinson) (1818/1985)
- A Winter's Night (arr. Kirby) (1818/2011)
Resources
- Franz Xaver Gruber, Wikipedia
- Perusal score
- Swearingen, J. (2008). Silent Night [score]. Birch Island Music Press: Oskaloosa, Iowa.