Free easy piano · Christmas
O Holy Night, easy piano
O Holy Night for easy piano in four free versions, all in C major: the whole song over simple broken chords, a beginner version of the opening and the chorus, a short edition from "A thrill of hope" to the end, and an intermediate solo. Play them here at any tempo, then print the PDF or download the MIDI.
- Adolphe Adam
- Beginner to intermediate
- 30 bars · 12/8
- Free: play, print, MIDI
Versions of O Holy Night. Each version is a request typed into PlayableNotes. Pick one to hear and print it.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make O Holy Night easy for my second-year student. Keep it in C major with the whole melody in the right hand, turn Adam's rolling accompaniment into simple broken chords for the left hand, and shorten the piano ending.”
What changed
The whole song, melody note for note, over a left hand of gentle broken chords that keeps Adam's rocking motion.
- Written in 12/8 instead of Adam's 4/4 with triplets. Each dotted eighth and sixteenth in the melody becomes a quarter and an eighth, so both hands move together on the eighth notes.
- Right hand: every note of the sung melody, bars 2 to 27, with the grace notes in bars 10 and 22. Bar 2 follows the English words: three E's for "O holy night", with "night" on the G at the start of bar 3, as in bar 7. (Adam's French setting holds the second E and adds a short G before the bar line.)
- Left hand: Adam's triplets, which he splits between the hands, become one three-note broken chord per beat, always low, high, middle (C–G–E for C major). The chords are Adam's and change where his do, at the half bar, and in bar 19 the right hand adds his D under the C.
- The widest left-hand shapes are octaves: F–F–C for the F major chord (bars 3, 8 and 28) and F–F–D for the D minor chord over F (bars 21 and 25). Every other shape spans a seventh or less.
- The low octaves (down to C1 in the original) are gone. The lowest note is the E just below the bass staff, in bars 21 and 25.
- Chorus, bars 16 to 26: a second note under the melody on the long notes, mostly sixths and thirds, to fill out the forte.
- Bar 1 is the left-hand pattern alone, like Adam's one-bar introduction. His five-bar piano ending with its trill becomes three bars of chords: F, D minor, G7 and C.
For teachers: For a second-year student who reads eighth notes and can play broken chords. Learn the left hand first: one three-note shape per chord, always low, high, middle, and the shape changes only at the half bar, until the closing chord. The F shapes in bars 3, 8, 21, 25 and 28 stretch an octave, so practice them on their own. Bars 9 and 10, with the A-sharp and F-sharp, also need slow practice. Play it without pedal at first; if you add pedal, change it with every new left-hand chord, or the low chords blur.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a beginner version for my first-year student, just the opening and the chorus. Melody only in the right hand, no sharps or flats, as few hand moves as possible, and a left hand of long, simple notes.”
What changed
"O holy night, the stars are brightly shining" and the whole chorus, melody only, over long left-hand notes, with no sharps or flats.
- 17 bars: the opening phrase (bars 2 to 6 of the original, "O holy night" to "the dear Saviour's birth"), then straight into the chorus (bars 16 to 27, "Fall on your knees" to the end of the melody). The rest of the verse, from "Long lay the world" to "A thrill of hope", is left out, and so are Adam's introduction and piano ending.
- Written in 12/8 instead of Adam's 4/4 with triplets: each dotted eighth and sixteenth becomes a quarter and an eighth, so nothing is faster than an eighth note. The grace note in bar 12 (bar 22 of the original) is left out.
- Right hand: the melody only, in C major. Bar 1 follows the English words: three E's for "O holy night", with "night" on the G at the start of bar 2. The hand uses three positions: thumb on E for bars 1 to 3, with finger 5 reaching up to the C; thumb on C from the eighth rest in bar 3 to bar 5; and thumb on G for the whole chorus, opening a little so finger 5 reaches the high E in bars 10 and 15.
- Left hand: long notes, one or two at a time, held for half a bar or a whole bar: C–G for the C chord, F for the F chord and a low G under the cadence in bar 4; then, as the chorus begins, A–E, E–G, D–F and A–E, played again at each half bar so the forte keeps sounding.
- Bars 10 to 16 keep Adam's bass line G–F–E–F–G inside one hand position, with C above the G or E so the C major chords have their C. In bar 13 the left hand plays C, then E, G and C rising from the low E, in dotted quarters under the held G; Adam's bass walks C–E–G–C there.
- Dynamics: mezzo-piano for the opening and forte from "Fall on your knees" (bar 6). The left hand ends on a C major chord, C–E–G.
For teachers: For a first-year student who can count a dotted quarter and an eighth and move the hand at a rest or a long note. Clap the first two bars before playing, counting four slow beats with three eighths in each. Mark the three right-hand positions in pencil. The left hand moves only on its long notes, so it can be added once the right hand is secure.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a short version for a Christmas service. Start at "A thrill of hope", keep the whole chorus, give the left hand simple held chords, and end with two bars instead of the long piano ending.”
What changed
The second half of the verse and the whole chorus, under two minutes at this tempo, over held left-hand chords.
- Starts on the pickup to "A thrill of hope" (the last eighth of bar 11 in the original) and runs to the end of the melody: bars 12 to 27 of the original are bars 2 to 17 here, followed by a two-bar ending (F, G7, C) in place of Adam's five-bar postlude.
- Melody: unchanged apart from the grace note in bar 12 here (bar 22 of the original), which is left out. It is written in 12/8 instead of Adam's 4/4 with triplets: each dotted eighth and sixteenth becomes a quarter and an eighth.
- Left hand: two-note chords held for a bar or half a bar, except in bars 13 and 18; in the forte chorus (bars 6 to 9) they are played again at the half bar so the sound keeps going. The widest is the G–F seventh under the G7 chords in bars 12 and 16. The harmony is Adam's, with his bass line G–F–E–F–G in bars 10 to 12 and 14 to 16. In bar 10, where the C major chord sits over G in the bass, the left hand plays G–C so the chord has its C.
- Bar 13: single notes C–E–G–C in dotted quarters under the held G, climbing like Adam's bass octaves C–E–G–C. In the ending, bar 18, the left hand plays single bass notes F and G under the right-hand chords.
- Right hand: a sixth, fifth or third under the long notes of the chorus (bars 6 to 12 and 14 to 16), so the forte sounds full without big chords, and three-note chords in the last two bars.
For teachers: For a second-year student who reads eighth notes and has a few weeks before a Christmas service or recital. The right hand holds two notes on the long notes of the chorus, so it should be comfortable with sixths and thirds. Start with the chorus (bars 6 to 17), where the left hand changes only once or twice a bar, then add bars 1 to 5 and the two-bar ending. In bar 13 the left hand climbs to middle C and then drops to the low G for bar 14: practice that move on its own.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make an intermediate version: the melody on top with chord notes under it, Adam's rolling triplets in the left hand with a low bass, and a shorter ending.”
What changed
Adam's rolling accompaniment in the left hand and the melody in the right hand, with full chords for the chorus.
- 12/8 instead of 4/4 with triplets: each dotted eighth and sixteenth in the melody becomes a quarter and an eighth. "O holy night" in bars 2 and 7 follows the English words: three E's, then G on "night" at the start of the next bar. The grace notes in bars 10 and 22 stay.
- Left hand: Adam's triplets as one continuous line of eighth notes per half bar. A low bass note starts each half bar, then a rocking figure rises to a tenth above it (C2–G2–E3–G2–C3–G2). Adam's octaves, down to C1, become single bass notes from A1 up.
- Right hand: the melody with two- and three-note chords under it in the verse (full chords on the long notes in bars 4, 9 and 15), and mostly three-note chords in the forte chorus (bars 16 to 26).
- Bar 23: the bass walks up C–E–G–C under the held G, as in the original.
- Ending, bars 27 to 31: Adam's postlude chords, including the C chord on beat 3 of bar 27 and the B against the F bass in bar 28. The trill in bar 30 becomes a held F–C that resolves to F–B, and the closing C major sweep is shortened to one bar.
For teachers: For a student at about grade 4 who can keep a left-hand arpeggio even while the right hand holds chords. Each figure spans a tenth or more, so it relies on the pedal: play the bass note with finger 5, then move the hand up for the notes above it. Change the pedal with each new bass note, usually twice a bar, and on every beat in bar 23 and three times in bar 29. Practice the left hand of bars 20 to 26 alone until the bass line moves without looking.
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Open this version in PlayableNotes and ask for a change in words: simpler, another key, shorter, bigger notes. The result is a new version you can play, print and share with your student.
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Make your own version
A real request in PlayableNotes, on Für Elise from the free library: say who it’s for and what to keep, and the AI writes a new version beside the original. It shows how to ask for a version of your own; its result is not one of the versions on this page.
About O Holy Night
O Holy Night is "Minuit, chrétiens" (Cantique de Noël) by Adolphe Adam, best known today for the ballet Giselle. He wrote it in 1847 to a poem by Placide Cappeau, and the English words most people sing are John Sullivan Dwight's 1855 translation. The edition we used (Léon Grus, Paris) is for voice and piano. A long, quiet verse moves over rolling triplets, then the refrain ("Fall on your knees") comes in forte and climbs twice to a high E.
O Holy Night is a song with piano accompaniment, not a piano solo: the singer has the tune, and the piano part is an almost unbroken stream of triplets split between the two hands, over bass octaves that go down to the lowest C on the keyboard. Every version here puts the melody in the right hand. The easy version turns the triplets into one broken chord per beat in the left hand, the beginner version and the short edition give the left hand long notes and held chords, and the intermediate solo keeps Adam's rolling triplets.
All four are in C major, the key of the edition we used, and the beginner version has no sharps or flats at all. They are written in 12/8 rather than Adam's 4/4 with triplets: the tune's dotted figures become quarter-and-eighth pairs, the long-short lilt it is usually sung with, and they fit the eighth-note pulse of 12/8. Count four slow beats to the bar, each split in three.
Practice tips
- Count 12/8 as four slow beats, each split in three ("1-and-a, 2-and-a"). In the easy and intermediate versions the left hand plays every eighth, so let it set the pulse and fit the melody's quarter-and-eighth pairs on top.
- Bars 9 and 10 of the easy and intermediate versions are the trickiest corner: an F-sharp in the melody over a chromatic chord with A-sharp in the left hand, then a turn to E minor. Loop them on their own at a slow tempo until the F-sharp sounds deliberate rather than wrong. The beginner version and the short edition leave this passage out.
- Hold the long notes for their full length. The B on "knees" lasts almost a whole bar, and the high E, which comes twice, is the top of the song. In the easy and intermediate versions keep the left hand moving underneath; in the beginner version and the short edition, count the eighths through the held notes so the music does not stop.
- Play the verse softly and save the full sound for "Fall on your knees": bar 16 in the easy and intermediate versions, bar 6 in the beginner version and the short edition.
- Practice each hand with the Right and Left buttons at about 50 on the tempo slider, then hands together, raising the tempo a few beats at a time.
Questions about O Holy Night
Is O Holy Night hard to play on piano?
The original is a song with piano accompaniment, not a piano solo, and its accompaniment of continuous triplets in both hands is intermediate to advanced. The tune itself is not hard, but it covers a tenth, from middle C to the E in the top space of the treble staff, so the right hand has to change position. On this page the easy version has the whole song over simple broken chords, at about a second-year level, and the beginner version plays the opening and the chorus with three right-hand positions and long left-hand notes.
What key is O Holy Night in?
It is printed in several keys for different voices. The Léon Grus edition these versions were made from is in C major, and all four versions here stay in C, where the high note is the E in the top space of the treble staff. With a free PlayableNotes account you can ask the AI chat to put any version in another key, and the edit costs nothing.
Is O Holy Night public domain?
Yes. Adam's music (1847) and John Sullivan Dwight's English words (1855) are in the public domain, and so is the Léon Grus edition these versions were made from. Modern arrangements, translations and recordings can still be under copyright, so check before copying one. The versions on this page are free to play, print and download.
Who wrote O Holy Night?
Adolphe Adam, the French composer of the ballet Giselle, set Placide Cappeau's French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" in 1847. The English words most people sing, beginning "O holy night, the stars are brightly shining", are John Sullivan Dwight's 1855 translation.
How fast should O Holy Night be played?
Adam marks it Andante maestoso: a walking pace, broad and dignified, felt as a slow four with each beat split in three. The tempo on this page counts quarter notes, so the easy version's 66 is 44 dotted-quarter beats a minute, a comfortable practice tempo. Learn it slower and raise the tempo with the slider.
Can I print O Holy Night or download it as MIDI?
Yes, free and without an account. Every version has a PDF to print and a MIDI file with the right and left hands on separate tracks.
Source and credits
- Composer
- Adolphe Adam
- Source edition
- Mutopia Project no. 640, "Minuit, chrétiens" for voice and piano, engraved by Gérard Gréco from the Léon Grus edition
- License
- Public domain
- Arranger
- PlayableNotes
All 32 bars were checked against the Mutopia PDF and MIDI. In bar 26 the .ly text of the piano part adds up to five beats; the PDF and MIDI show a G7 chord on beat 3 and a rest on beat 4, and we followed them. The sung melody was moved into the right hand, and the opening "O holy night" (bars 2 and 7) follows the English words: three E's, then G on "night". No lyrics are printed with the music.
Arrangements and facts checked
