He completed his music education studying with the church organist of Burghausen, Georg Hartdobler.

In 1829 Gruber moved to Berndorf, and in later years to Hallein, Salzburg, where he was named choir director, singer and organist.

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 priest at the Nikolauskirche, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816.

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.