author
Lewis Redner
1830–1908
Best remembered for the melody of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," this Philadelphia musician balanced everyday work in real estate with a lasting gift to American church music. His tune, written for Phillips Brooks’s carol, became one of the most familiar sounds of Christmas.
1 Audiobook
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
by Lewis Redner
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in either 1830 or 1831, Lewis Henry Redner spent most of his life there, working in real estate while also serving churches as an organist and Sunday school superintendent. He is most closely linked with Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, where he worked with Phillips Brooks.
Redner’s enduring place in music history comes from the tune usually called St. Louis, written for Brooks’s text "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Accounts agree that the carol became his best-known contribution, and it remains the reason many readers and listeners encounter his name today.
He died in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1908. Sources differ slightly on his birth year, so that detail is often given with caution, but his reputation as the composer of one of the best-loved Christmas melodies is clear.