Sorry, Dicho, I'm a man! (I know, my name "looks" feminine; not sure why; on my birth certificate it's "Leland", which "looks" much more manly, again don't know why.)

I was wondering why you didn't seem to have seen my copy of Cookham (not Cookson, FWIW), and then I noticed the link in my initial post (the one that says "see here") doesn't go anywhere. Try this one: Beach Spring and Cookham (from the fasola shapenote classic Sacred Harp, 1844). In looking at the tune remember that the "melody line" is in the middle (tenor) staff, not the upper (treble) one. Unfortunately the Sacred Harp only gives the first verse, so I can't tell whether the whole thing was in its modern textual form by 1844 or not; if so, the folks at the Cyber Hymnal should be notified.

Here is a link to my hymnal's entry for O Little Town of Bethlehem; the MIDI links are below the lyrics; just scroll down till you see them. The Redner tune is the original; Redner was the organist in the church where Brooks was the pastor, and wrote the tune at Brooks' request. The latter named the tune "St. Louis" in a play on Lewis Redner's name and in gratitude for the composition having been finished in time for the Christmas (Eve? I don't recall) service (a story similar to, though neither as touching nor as well known as the story of Stille Nacht's debut).

The Walford Davies tune does work (check the Christian Science Hymnal, the older edition). But certainly "St. Louis" (in America) and "Forest Green" (in Europe) are by far the most commonly heard tunes for it. What do the Australians etc. sing it to? BTW, many recent USA denominational hymnals offer it twice, once with "St. Louis" and then again with "Forest Green" (or vice versa). Incidentally, there's a German carol "O Betlehem, du kleine Stadt" sung to "Forest Green" that is clearly inspired by "O Little Town of Bethlehem" but not closely enough based on it, textually, to qualify as a translation. I have an Esperanto version of it, too, in my hymnal.

I believe both text and tune ("St. Louis") of "O Little Town" should be dated 1868; in any case, they were written the same year, so the alternative possibility is that they should both be 1867. Not sure on what grounds the Cyber Hymnal gives them different years.

A somewhat similar situation obtains for "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", with Americans (and Free Churchers) favoring the original tune "Carol" by Richard Storrs Willis, while Europeans (and Liturgical Types) tend towards "Noel", an English folk tune arranged in this case by Arthur S. Sullivan.

As for Away in a Manger, the Kirkpatrick tune ("Cradle Song") is more common in Europe, the tune called "Mueller" is more common in America, and is the original (or oldest extant) tune for the text. It is sometimes misleadingly referred to as "Luther's Cradle Hymn" and occasionally actually credited to Martin Luther (even though it is of American origin, 1880s vintage), so it may be the tune Willa referred to as "Traditional Germany". A "Traditional Normandy" tune for this text is news to me. It's been awhile since I looked at Carols for Choirs; will check it out. The other tune often used for "Away in a manger" is the Spilman tune best known as "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton". I have the Vietnamese version set to this in my online hymnal (as it was in the Alliance hymnal I took the text from). I find it easy to confuse the Kirkpatrick tune and the Spilman one; I know the latter better, and often catch myself slipping into it when trying to sing the former without the music in front of me. "Mueller", on the other hand, is completely distinct.

My hymnal has over 120 Christmas pieces in it (mostly, granted, in Esperanto, but tunewise, what diff?) and the easiest way to access them for you Anglophones is through my Christmas Carols in Esperanto index by English titles. Among those with a diversity of tunes probably the most extreme example is "Brightest and best", for which I have 9 MIDIs and am looking for two more tunes ("Epiphany (Hopkins)" and "Spean").

Jean, can you recommend a recording of the Kentucky tunes for Amazing Grace and O Little Town that you referred to? Especially the former intrigues me. Also any odd tunes for "How Firm a Foundation" (in the US I think the old shapenote tune "Foundation", aka "Bellevue" and many other names, is nigh universal now though there was a time when "Adeste Fideles" was the most common hymnal tune for it over here with "Lyons" ("O Worship the King", for most Americans) a distant runner-up. In England on the other hand I think "Montgomery" is still the dominant tune for the text (and the only one old enough to have been, just possibly, the original tune). But if you Kentucky folks [I'm a descendant of Dan'l Boone, well actually of his brother, myself] sing Amazing Grace to a different tune, maybe you do Foundation, too?

Thank you all kindly. Keep it coming.

Liland (male)