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He was an organist and composer born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Playing the
organ in church was a lifelong contribution, but due to the fact that doing
that was not enough to provide for him economically, he also had a career
in real estate in Philadelphia.
Spending 19 years at the Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia as
organist, he was instrumental in the expansion of the Sunday School program
and he would also hold the same position in three other churches. In 1868 the preacher Phillips
Brooks, who he was an organist for, asked to put together some music for a
poem he had written and wanted to include in the Sunday school Christmas
service. He did
this literally in a matter of a few hours and after a dream he had had that night, the
result would be the ever-popular Christmas carol "O Little Town of
Bethlehem". Leaving this
legacy behind him he died at the Hotel Marlborough in Atlantic City when he
was 77 years old.
O Little Town of Bethlehem recordings
Leroy Anderson & his Orchestra
Decca B0003552-02 (CD: A Leroy Anderson Christmas)
Sources:
- http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/r/e/d/redner_lh.htm
- http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/o_little_town_of_bethlehem.htm
- http://www.faithfulreader.com/reviews/0824947045.asp
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