O Little Town of Bethlehem: the words, the two tunes, and how a choir sings it
O Little Town of Bethlehem is an American carol that the British sing to an English folk tune. Phillips Brooks wrote the words for his Sunday school in Philadelphia in 1868, three years after he rode out from Bethlehem on Christmas Eve; Ralph Vaughan Williams gave it a Surrey folk melody in 1906. This guide prints the words, describes both tunes, and has our choir singing it.
Who wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem? Phillips Brooks, rector of Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia, wrote the words in 1868. In the United States it is sung to St Louis, by his organist Lewis Redner. In Britain it is sung to Forest Green, which Vaughan Williams arranged from an English folk song for The English Hymnal of 1906.
We supply the choir and the organist for church carol services, from £1,150 for four singers in Greater London, and carol singers for offices, hotels, and parties.
O Little Town of Bethlehem (words Phillips Brooks), sung by our full choir. Hear more recordings.
The words of O Little Town of Bethlehem
Brooks wrote five verses. British hymn books print four, leaving out the fourth, which begins “Where children pure and happy”. These are the four, as printed in 1907. Brooks died in 1893, so the words are free to print.
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.
For Christ is born of Mary,
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!
Text: Phillips Brooks (1868), from Our American Holidays: Christmas (1907), Wikisource.
Brooks wrote it after a ride to the shepherds’ fields
Phillips Brooks was a tall, popular Episcopal preacher in Philadelphia, later Bishop of Massachusetts. In 1865, at the end of the American Civil War, he took a year’s leave and travelled through the Holy Land. On Christmas Eve he rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and out to the field where the shepherds are said to have watched their flocks, then went to the long service in the Church of the Nativity.
Three years later he wrote a carol for the children of his Sunday school, drawing on that night, and asked his organist, Lewis Redner, to set it. Redner said the tune came to him in his sleep the night before the children were due to sing it.
The poem looks at a sleeping town from the outside, then moves inside, to “human hearts”. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” is its most quoted line: the whole of history arriving at one small place on one night.
Sources: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Forest Green”, Wikipedia; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, Wikisource.
Two tunes, one either side of the Atlantic
Redner’s tune, St Louis, is the one Americans grow up with. In Britain it is almost unknown. When Ralph Vaughan Williams edited The English Hymnal in 1906, he set Brooks’s words to a folk song he had collected in 1903 from a singer in the village of Forest Green, near Ockley in Surrey. The song was “The Ploughboy’s Dream”; Vaughan Williams named the hymn tune after the village.
Forest Green is in a major key with a folk song’s easy lilt, and its long phrases suit Brooks’s eight-line verses. If your congregation includes Americans, warn them: they will know the words and expect a different tune.In a British church, unless the order of service says otherwise, Forest Green is the tune the organist will play.
How a choir sings it
O Little Town of Bethlehem is a gentler carol than Hark! or O Come, All Ye Faithful, and it suits a lighter touch. We sing the first verse in unison or in plain harmony, and many services print the third verse, “How silently, how silently”, as choir only: the congregation sits out while the choir sings it quietly, sometimes unaccompanied, before everyone returns for the last verse. Vaughan Williams’s harmonisation in The English Hymnal works for four voices as it stands.
A quartet can lead it, and in a small church or a livery hall it needs nothing more. With eight singers we can add a descant to the last verse, “O holy Child of Bethlehem”, for a bigger finish.
Four singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours, eight cost £2,000 and an organist is £250, so a choir of eight with an organist is £2,250. Each figure includes fees and travel within Greater London; the Christmas prices page lists every size.
Where to put it in a carol service
Put it in the middle. After a loud opening carol and two readings, O Little Town of Bethlehem brings the temperature down and gives the congregation something to sing that is not a fanfare. In our sample Nine Lessons and Carols order it follows the second lesson.
It also suits a short carol set at an office or hotel event, where guests know the first verse and can join in. See the best carols for a carol service for how it fits with the rest of the set.
It sits well beside a choir carol on the same readings. After the Genesis 22 lesson, where God promises Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring, the choir can sing This Is the Truth Sent from Above, an English folk carol that Vaughan Williams took down in Herefordshire. Book a choir for your carol service and it can sing both.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest in Philadelphia, wrote the words in 1868 for his Sunday school, three years after visiting Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. His organist, Lewis Redner, wrote the American tune, St Louis.
Why is O Little Town of Bethlehem sung to a different tune in Britain?
Ralph Vaughan Williams set the words to Forest Green in The English Hymnal of 1906. He adapted the tune from “The Ploughboy’s Dream”, a folk song he collected in 1903 at Forest Green in Surrey, and British hymn books have used it since.
How many verses does O Little Town of Bethlehem have?
Five. British hymn books usually print four, leaving out the fourth verse, which begins “Where children pure and happy”.
Can a small choir sing O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Yes. Four voices can sing Vaughan Williams’s harmonisation and lead a congregation. Four carol singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours in Greater London; our recording is by our full choir.
Book a choir for your carol service
Tell us the date and the venue, and which tune your congregation knows if it is not Forest Green. We will suggest a choir size and an order of carols.
Talk to us about your carol service
Text us on WhatsApp for the fastest reply, or email office@londonchoralservice.com.