Silent Night was composed in 1818, in harsh times, when people suffered from the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, horrible epidemics and a year without summer due to a super volcano eruption. Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber wrote the song for a Christmas Eve service, and unknowingly made music history.

In December 2018, Salzburg – and the world – celebrated the bicentennial of the creation of the world’s most beloved Christmas carol.

We filmed dramatic reconstructions of “Silent Night’s” origins in 1818, written by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr, as a song for peace and hope during a time of great hardship for my country, Austria. From there we followed the carol’s incredible journey around the world, distributed by a “Boy Group” via Germany to New York, and further to Los Angeles, leading up to the 200th anniversary this Christmas in 2018.

We re-enacted the incredible moment when this song for peace inspired a cease-fire on the frontline trenches of the First World War in 1914 featuring John Rhys-Davies (Lord of The Rings, Indiana Jones) telling the story.

And we captured the moment when Bing Crosby’s unforgettable CBS radio recording of ‘Silent Night’ became a pop culture phenomenon in 1935, selling 30 million copies, being the third best-selling single of all time and becoming the Christmas songbook for countless music stars (and every carol service!)

The prime-time TV premiere for SILENT NIGHT, scheduled for Friday Dec. 23rd 2018, reached millions of viewers, fans and music lovers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France simultaneously.

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Hannes M. SchalleMoonlake EntertainmentServus TV, arte, BRPeter Simonischek

Kelly Clarkson, Joss Stone, David Foster, Anggun, Josh Groban, John Rhys-Davies, Gavin Rossdale, Rolando Villazon, The Vienna Boys Choir, The Tenors and many more!

London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Salzburg, Toronto, Moscow, Jerusalem, Vienna & Florence

45min / 52min / 72min / 88min

Cat. No.: A 040 50089