Katherine Kennicott Davis

Katherine Kennicott Davis studied at Wellesley College and New England Conservatory. Training under Thomas Whitney Surette and Nadia Boulanger is recorded. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Concord and Littleton. Works named in the authority record are The Little Drummer Boy.

• Name — Katherine Kennicott Davis • Born — 25 June 1892 • Birthplace — St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S. • Died — 20 April 1980 • Place of death — Littleton, Massachusetts, U.S. • Occupation — * Composer • pianist • arranger • teacher • Known for — "Carol of the Drum", later known as "The Little Drummer Boy"

Katherine Davis was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 25, 1892, to Maxwell Gaddis Davis and Jesse Foote Barton. She composed her first piece of music, "Shadow March", at the age of 15. She graduated from St. Joseph Central High School in 1910. She then went on to study music at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. In 1914, she won the college's Billings Prize, a prize still offered each year to an outstanding Wellesley College music student. 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, Massachusetts. Davis also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, France. She taught music at the Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, and at the Shady Hill School for Girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She became a member of ASCAP in 1941. Katherine Davis was conferred an honorary doctorate from Stetson University, in DeLand, Florida. 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. 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, to support students studying musical performance.

Many of her over 600 compositions were written for the choirs at her school. She was actively involved in The Concord Series, multiple-volume set of music and books for educational purposes. Many of the musical volumes were compiled, arranged, and edited by Davis with Archibald T. Davison, and they were published by E.C. Schirmer in Boston. She wrote "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally titled "The Carol of the Drum"), in 1941. It became famous when recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale in 1958: the recording went to the top of the Billboard charts and Simeone insisted on a writer's royalty for his arrangement of the song. Davis also wrote the Thanksgiving hymn "Let All Things Now Living", which uses the melody of the traditional Welsh folk song "The Ash Grove".

• Children of Bethlehem, Christmas cantata for children's voices, 1973, Broadman Press • The Drummer, Christmas play with music for soloists, mixed chorus (SATB), organ or piano and handbells, 1966, Mills Music • This is Noel, carol cantata for SATB voice, SB solos, optional oboe, piano or organ, 1935, Remick Music • The Unmusical Impresario, musical comedy in one act, 1956, G. Schirmer • Who is Jesus?, Easter cantata for children's voices, 1974, Broadman Press

• Be Ye Kind, One to Another (Ephesians 4: 32, 31), 1948, Galaxy Music • Bless the Lord O My Soul (Psalm 103), 1952, Galaxy Music • Christ is Risen Today! (Published by Galaxy Music) • Dear Lord and Father, R. D. Row/Carl Fischer Music • How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings (Psalm 84: 1–3), 1952, Galaxy Music • Raising of Lazarus (John XI: 1, 3, 4, 17, 41, 42, 43, 44, 25), 1957, Carl Fischer • Thou Wilt Hear our Prayer, R. D. Row/Carl Fischer Music • Treasure in Heaven, R. D. Row/Carl Fisher Music • Trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3: 5–6), 1946, Galaxy Music

• Folk Song Settings, arrangements and English texts by Katherine K. Davis, Galaxy Music • The Deaf Old Woman (Missouri Folk Song), 1947 • He's Gone Away (North Carolina Folk Song), 1947 • The Soldier (Kentucky Folk Song), 1947 • Bagpipes (Hungarian Folk Tune), 1949 • The Mill Wheel (J'entends le moulin, French Canadian Folk Song), 1949 • The Pitcher (Portuguese Folk Song), 1951 • I Have a Fawn (Thomas Moore), 1966, Galaxy Music • Nancy Hanks (Rosemary Benét), a work about Nancy Lincoln, 1941, Galaxy Music

• Alleluia, come, good people, text by John Crowley, mixed voices a cappella, 1941, Galaxy Music • The Birds' Noël (Christmas carol), mixed voices and keyboard, 1965, Galliard/Galaxy Music • In the Bleak Midwinter, text by Christina Rossetti, SSA a cappella, 1933, E.C. Schirmer • The Little Drummer Boy (with Harry Simeone and Henry Onorati), SA or SATB chorus and keyboard, 1958, Shawnee Press • Our God is a Rock, mixed voices and keyboard, 1949, C.C. Birchard • Seasonal Anthems for junior choirs (7 original works and 3 arrangements), two-part children's chorus and keyboard, 1963, B.F. Wood Music • Shepherds, Awake!, mixed voices a cappella, 1938, Remick Music • Sing Gloria, text by John Crowley, mixed voices, SA duet, and keyboard, 1952, Remick Music

• Hornpipe, piano solo, 1956, J. Fischer and Bros.

• The Concord piano books, 4 volumes, 1925–1927, Nos. 600–602, 604 • Cinderella, a folk-tune operetta in three acts without spoken dialogue, 1933, No. 616 • Songs of freedom, for unison and part singing (with Archibald T. Davison and Frederic W. Kempf), 1942, No. 621

• Bois épais (aria from Amadis by Jean-Baptiste Lully), voice and piano, 1956, Galaxy Music • Choruses (with Channing Lefebre) in For us a child is born (Uns ist ein Kind geboren) (Johann Kuhnau, attr. J. S. Bach), cantata for SSA voices, SA solo, and keyboard, 1951, Galaxy Music • God is Life (Gott lebet noch by J. S. Bach), voice and piano or organ, 1955, Galaxy Music • Sheep may safely graze (of J. S. Bach's aria), mixed voices and piano, 1942, Galliard/Galaxy Music