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'{{Infobox musical composition | name = O Little Town of Bethlehem | type = | image = Manuscriptolittletownofbethlehem.png | alt = | caption = Author's manuscript of first stanza | translation = <!-- to English, if hymn name is a different language --> | native_name = <!-- if hymn name is the translation --> | native_name_lang = <!-- two-letter code --> | composer = | genre = [[Christmas carol]] | occasion = | text = [[Phillips Brooks]] | language = | written = 1868 | based_on = {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Micah|chapter=5|verse=2}} | meter = 7.6.8.6 D | melody = "St. Louis" by [[Lewis Redner]], "Forest Green" by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] | composed = <!-- {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|end_date={{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|location=}} --> | published = | misc = }} {{wikisource|O Little Town of Bethlehem}} "'''O Little Town of Bethlehem'''" is a popular [[Christmas carol]]. ==Words== The text was written by [[Phillips Brooks]] (1835–1893), an [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]] priest, then rector of [[Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia]] and later of [[Trinity Church (Boston)|Trinity Church, Boston]]. He was inspired by visiting the village of [[Bethlehem]] in the [[Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem|Sanjak of Jerusalem]] in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church, and his organist [[Lewis Redner]] (1831-1908) added the music. ==Music== Redner's tune, simply titled "St. Louis", is the tune used most often for this carol in the United States.<ref name=benson>Louis F. Benson, "[http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/o_little_town_of_bethlehem.htm O Little Town of Bethlehem]". ''Studies Of Familiar Hymns'', First Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1924), 11</ref> Redner recounted the story of his composition in 1924:<ref name=benson/> {{quote|As Christmas of 1868 approached, Mr. Brooks told me that he had written a simple little carol for the Christmas Sunday-school service, and he asked me to write the tune to it. The simple music was written in great haste and under great pressure. We were to practice it on the following Sunday. Mr. Brooks came to me on Friday, and said, ‘Redner, have you ground out that music yet to "O Little Town of Bethlehem"? I replied, 'No,' but that he should have it by Sunday. On the Saturday night previous my brain was all confused about the tune. I thought more about my Sunday-school lesson than I did about the music. But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868.<br /> My recollection is that Richard McCauley, who then had a bookstore on Chestnut Street west of Thirteenth Street, printed it on leaflets for sale. Rev. Dr. Huntington, rector of All Saints' Church, Worcester, Mass., asked permission to print it in his Sunday-school hymn and tune book, called ''The Church Porch'',<ref>William Reed Huntington (ed.) ''[https://archive.org/details/churchporchaser00huntgoog The Church Porch: A Service Book and Hymnal for Sunday Schools]'' (E.P. Dutton, 1882)</ref> and it was he who christened the music 'Saint Louis.'}} <score vorbis="1"> \new Staff << \clef treble \key g \major { \time 4/4 \partial 4 \relative g' { b4 | b b ais b | d c e, a | g fis8 g a4 d, | b'2. b4 | b b e d | d c e, \bar"" \break a | g fis8 g b4 a | g2. b4 | b b a g | fis2 fis4 fis | e fis g a | b2. \bar"" \break b4 | b b ais b | d c e, e' | d g, b4. a8 | g2. \bar"|." } } %\new Lyrics \lyricmode { %} >> \layout { indent = #0 } \midi { \tempo 4 = 80 } </score> In [[Commonwealth of Nations|the Commonwealth]], and sometimes in the U.S. (especially in the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]]), the English hymn tune "Forest Green" is used instead. "Forest Green" was adapted by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] from an English [[folk song|folk]] [[broadside ballad|ballad]] called "The Ploughboy's Dream" which he had collected from a Mr. Garman of Forest Green, Surrey in 1903.<ref>[http://www.vwml.org/record/RVW2/4/19 Vaughan Williams' Manuscript of "The Ploughboy's Dream"] at the [[Vaughan Williams Memorial Library]] [[The Full English (folk music archive)|Full English collection]], accessed 30 March 2014</ref><ref>Byron Adams, Robin Wells, "Hymn Tunes from Folk Songs" in ''Vaughan Williams essays'', Volume 3; Volume 44, (Ashgate Publishing, 2003), {{ISBN|978-1-85928-387-5}} p.111</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJqgspx57C0 "O Little Town of Bethlehem (Vaughan Williams)"] English hymn.</ref> Henry Garman was born in 1830 in [[Sussex]], and in the [[United Kingdom Census 1901|1901 census]] was living in [[Ockley]], Surrey; Vaughan Williams' manuscript notes he was a "labourer of Forest Green near Ockley - Surrey. (Aged about 60?)", although Mr Garman would have been nearer 73 when he recited the tune.<ref>Mark Browse, [http://hymntunes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/forest-green.html O Little Town], 141-142</ref> The tune has a [[Strophic form|strophic]] verse structure and is in the form A-A-B-A. Adapted into a hymn tune harmonised by Vaughan Williams, it was first published in the ''[[English Hymnal]]'' of 1906. <score vorbis="1"> \new Staff << \clef treble \key f \major { \time 4/4 \partial 4 \relative f' { \repeat unfold 2 { c4 | f f f g | a8 [ g ] a bes c4 a | bes a8 f g4 g | f2. \bar"" \break } f8 a | c4. d8 c [ bes ] a g | f [ g ] a bes c4 c, | f a g f | c2 \bar"" \break c | f4 f f g | a8 [ g ] a bes c4 a | bes a8 f g4 g | f2. \bar"|." } } %\new Lyrics \lyricmode { %} >> \layout { indent = #0 } \midi { \tempo 4 = 86 } </score> Two versions also exist by [[Henry Walford Davies|H. Walford Davies]], called "Wengen", and "Christmas carol".<ref>http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W3446_GBAJY0110304&vw=dc</ref><ref>http://mander-organs-forum.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3764-walford-davies-tune-for-o-little-town/</ref> "Wengen" was published in ''[[Hymns Ancient and Modern]]'' in 1922,<ref>''[[Hymns Ancient and Modern]]'' (London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1922)</ref> meanwhile "Christmas Carol" is usually performed only by choirs rather than as a congregational hymn. This is because the first two verses are for treble voices with organ accompaniment, with only the final verse as a chorale/refrain harmony. This setting includes a recitative from the Gospel of Luke at the beginning, and cuts verses 2 and 4 of the original 5-verse carol. This version is often performed at the service of [[Nine Lessons and Carols]] in [[Kings College, Cambridge]].<ref>[http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/events/chapel-services/nine-lessons/order-service-1999.html Order of Service], ''A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 1999'', King's College Cambridge 1999.</ref> [[William Rhys-Herbert]] included a new hymn-tune and harmonization as part of his 1909 cantata, ''Bethany''. The song has been included in many of the Christmas albums recorded by numerous singers in the modern era. Notables who have recorded the song include: Fred Waring 1942, Perry Como 1946, Frank Sinatra 1948/1994, Jimmy Wakely 1949, Ames Brothers 1950, Mario Lanza 1951, Jo Stafford 1955, Burl Ives 1956, Elvis 1957, Gene Autry 1957, Tennessee Ernie Ford 1958, Billy Vaughn 1958, Joni James 1958, Connie Francis 1959, Jimmie Rodgers 1959, Pat Boone 1959, Nat King Cole 1960, Paul Anka 1960, Keely Smith 1960, Lennon Sisters 1960, Lawrence Welk 1961, Everly Brothers 1962, Eddy Arnold 1962, Frankie Avalon 1962, Jackie Wilson 1963, Jim Reeves 1963, Jerry Vale 1964, Jimmy Dean 1965, Al Hirt 1965, Vic Dana 1966, Marty Robbins 1967, Barbra Streisand 1967, Julie Andrews 1967, Anita Bryant 1967, Ella Fitzgerald 1967, Floyd Cramer 1967, Bill Anderson 1969, Ray Price 1969, Slim Whitman 1969, Tammy Wynette 1970, Jim Nabors 1972, Andy Williams 1974, Willie Nelson 1979/1997, Faron Young 1979, Johnny Cash 1980, Emmylou Harris 1980, B.J. Thomas 1985, Kenny Rogers 1989, Dolly Parton 1990, Johnny Cash & June Carter 1991, Don McLean 1991, Neil Diamond 1994, Oak Ridge Boys 1995, Tiny Tim 1995, Alabama 1996, Rosemary Clooney 1996, Garth Brooks 1999, Anne Murray 2001, Charlie Daniels 2002, Johnny Mathis 2002, Harry Connick, Jr. 2003, Randy Travis 2007, June Carter Cash 2007, Bob Dylan 2009, and Brian Setzer Orchestra 2015. ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *Free arrangements for [http://cantorion.org/music/14/O-Little-Town-of-Bethlehem-Forest-Green-tune-%28UK%29 piano] and [http://cantorion.org/music/4164/O-Little-Town-of-Bethlehem-St.-Louis-tune-%28US%29 SATB] from ''Cantorion.org'' (PD, CPDL) *[http://www.kaiser-ulrich.de/Kaiser/Noten.aspx Free arrangement] for female choir (SSA) by [[:de:Ulrich Kaiser (Musiktheoretiker)|Ulrich Kaiser]] *[http://imslp.org/wiki/Bethany_%28Rhys-Herbert,_William%29 Free hymn arrangement] in the [http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page IMSLP Petrucci Music Library] * [http://www.traditional-songs.com/download_score.php?name=O%20little%20town%20of%20Bethlehem&country=England Free score] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTPyKwqUUgc Performed by the] [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] Choir, using 'Forest Green' as the tune * Score of Wengen: ([http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Images/Wengen-1_Walford-Davies.jpg pt 1], [http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Images/Wengen-2_Walford_Davies.jpg pt 2]) * [http://s2.imslp.org/images/thumb/pdfs/6a/018d3167233a7eb3464d4405c4ddaf8da809f02b.png Score of Christmas Carol] {{DEFAULTSORT:O Little Town Of Bethlehem}} [[Category:1860s songs]] [[Category:Christmas carols]] [[Category:American Christmas songs]] [[Category:Songs about Israel]] [[Category:Compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams]] [[Category:Songs about cities]]'