The carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. Mohr had composed the words two years earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service. In his written account regarding the composition of the carol, Gruber gives no mention of the specific inspiration for creating the song. According to the song's history provided by Austria's Silent Night Society, one supposition is that the church organ was no longer working so that Mohr and Gruber therefore created a song for accompaniment by guitar. Silent Night historian, Renate Ebeling-Winkler Berenguer says that the first mention of a broken organ was in a book published in the U.S. Some believe that Mohr simply wanted a new Christmas carol that he could play on his guitar.
Technical concerns: Because level 3 players are not expected to read notes on strings 4-6, this arrangement makes extensive use of notational procedures to give a discreet location for every note that is on the lower 3 strings. Students should be taught these notes by rote. The inclusion of string numbers and fret indicators (roman numerals) serves as a visual reminder.