Katherine Kennicott Davis
Katherine Kennicott Davis (June 25, 1892 - April 20, 1980) was a composer, pianist, and author of the famous Christmas tune "The Little Drummer Boy".
[edit] Biography
She was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 25, 1892, and composed her first piece of music, "Shadow March," at the age of 15. She graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1910, and studied music at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.[1] In 1914 she won the Billings Prize.[1] After graduation she continued at Wellesley as an assistant in the Music Department, teaching music theory and piano. At the same time she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.[1] Davis also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. She taught music at the Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, and at the Shady Hill School for Girls in Philadelphia.
Many of her over 600 compositions were written for the choirs at her school. She wrote "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally titled "The Carol of the Drum"), in 1941.[1] It became famous when recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale in 1958: the recording sailed to the top of the Billboard charts and Simeone insisted on a writer's royalty for his arrangement of the song. Another famous hymn by Katherine Davis is the Thanksgiving hymn "Let All Things Now Living" which uses the melody of the traditional Welsh folk song The Ash Grove.
She was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and was granted an honorary doctorate from Stetson University, in DeLand, Florida. Katherine K. Davis continued writing music until she became ill in the winter of 1979-1980. She died on April 20, 1980, at the age of 87, in Littleton, Massachusetts.[1] She left all of the royalties and proceeds from her compositions, which include operas, choruses, children's operettas, cantatas, piano and organ pieces, and songs, to Wellesley College's Music Department. These funds are used to support musical instrument instruction.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Katherine Davis, Composer, At 87, Memorial Service At Wheaton". Boston Globe. May 17, 1980. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/685632621.html?dids=685632621:685632621&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+17,+1980&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=KATHERINE+DAVIS,+COMPOSER,+AT+87,+MEMORIAL+SERVICE+AT+WHEATON&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-07-22. "Miss Davis composed more than 800 selections, sacred and secular, and her work was published by more than 15 companies. Her most well-known song is the carol, "The Little Drummer Boy," originally published in 1941 as "The Carol of the Drum." She also composed songs, seven operas, carols, choruses and sacred cantatas for children. Upon graduation from Wellesley College - she won the Billings Prize for composition in the class of 1914 - she taught music at Wellesley College and did graduate study in music at the New England Conservatory of Music. ..."
[edit] Further reading
- Boughton, Harrison Charles (1977). Katherine K. Davis: life and work. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Thesis, University of Missouri, reprint by University Microfilms.
- Flanagan, A. L. (1980-08-14), "Katherine K. Davis, 1892-1980", The American Organist: 31.
- Livingston, C. (1983), "The Hymns of Katherine K. Davis", The Hymn 43 (1): 28–33.
