Joseph Mohr
Joseph Mohr (1792–1848) was an Austrian Catholic priest and writer who wrote the words to the Christmas carol Silent Night.
Born in Salzburg, Mohr was ordained in 1815 and served in several Alpine parishes. He wrote the poem that became Silent Night in 1816 while assistant priest at Mariapfarr; on Christmas Eve 1818 at Oberndorf it was first sung in a simple guitar-and-choir arrangement. Later postings included Hintersee and Wagrain, where he founded support for poor schoolchildren and care for the elderly. He died of respiratory disease in Wagrain.
His lyric for Silent Night appears among the Christmas programmes on Looking to the Light (MCD 365) and Christmas Around the Piano (MD 3409).
Compositions by Joseph Mohr appear on
Christmas Around the Piano
Tony Gould offers reflective improvised solo-piano versions of familiar Christmas songs and carols. Played without hurry and coloured by personal memory, each tune is treated as living music rather than seasonal decoration alone.
Looking to the Light: Songs of Christmas
Looking to the Light is an easy-listening Christmas collection of favourites such as O Holy Night, The Little Drummer Boy, Ave Maria and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, with Australian carols, lesser-known songs and children's numbers including All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth and I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.