O Little Town of Bethlehem (Vaughan WIlliams) King's College Cambridge

The beloved carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written by the Rev. Phillips Brooks for his Sunday School in 1868. He had spent Christmas in Bethlehem two years before. Brooks was born in Boston in 1835, graduated at Harvard College 1855, and was ordained in 1859. He served as rector at the Church of the Advent, Philadelphia, and later at Trinity Church, Boston.

Most congregations that sing this carol use the tune ST LOUIS, composed by Lewis Redner. Here we hear FOREST GREEN which is an English folk tune associated with the ballad "The Ploughboy's Dream." Ralph Vaughan Williams turned FOREST GREEN into a hymn tune for The English Hymnal (1906), using it as a setting for "O Little Town of Bethlehem." 

Vaughan Williams played a primary role in establishing English sacred music in the 20th century. Himself an agnostic, he took on the task of revising the English Hymnal and the result was both solid and magical. He had long collected English folk tunes and incorporated many of those tunes in hymns he composed for the hymnal.

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