Strasser-Rainer Gallery

When Karl Mauracher, visited St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, he came away with the music and lyrics for "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" There is no way of knowing if he merely found it on the organ he was repairing or if it was given to him by Franz Gruber or Joseph Mohr. Mauracher, an aclaimed organ builder, took the words and music notations to his home in the tiny hamlet of Kapfing, near F�gen in the Ziller Valley where there was a strong musical tradition among the families who lived there. He passed the song along to two families of traveling folk singers, the Rainers and the Strassers, who made it part of their regular repertoire.

The Strasser home in the Ziller Valley

The following Christmas, the Rainers sang "Stille Nacht" in the village church of F�gen; the first recorded performance outside of Oberndorf. The Rainer Family Singers in 1827 Anton, Franz, Maria, Felix, Joseph Three years later, when Emperor Francis I of Austria and Czar Alexander I of Russia spent a few days in a castle near the village, the Rainer Family gave a performance which included the carol. Both monarchs were tremendously pleased and the Rainers were invited to travel through Russia for a series of concerts.

The Strasser Family Singers

In 1834, the Strassers sang what they called "Song From Heaven" for King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who commanded that it be sung by his cathedral choir every Christmas Eve. From there it spread throughout Europe.

The Rainers in New York City

The Rainers brought the song to the United States in 1839, when it was sung at the Alexander Hamilton Monument, outside Trinity Church, in New York City.

The Ziller Valley where "Silent Night"
started on its world journey