Katherine Kennicott Davis (June 25, 1892 – April 20, 1980) was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher, whose most well-known composition is the Christmas song "Carol of the Drum," later known as "The Little Drummer Boy".
Davis was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 25, 1892. She 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 college's Billings Prize.[1][2] 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.[3] She taught music at the Concord AcademyinConcord, Massachusetts, and at the Shady Hill School for Girls in Philadelphia.
She became a member of ASCAP in 1941.[4] and was granted 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.[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 students studying 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.[citation needed]
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 went to the top of the Billboard charts and Simeone insisted on a writer's royalty for his arrangement of the song.[citation needed]
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.
Bois épais (aria from AmadisbyJean-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 (J.S. Bach), mixed voices and piano, 1942, Galliard/Galaxy Music
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (1980). The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (Fourth ed.). New York, New York: ASCAP.
"Katherine Davis, Composer, At 87, Memorial Service At Wheaton". Boston Globe. May 17, 1980. 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. ...
Boughton, Harrison Charles (1977). "Katherine K. Davis: life and work". Ann Arbor, Michigan: Thesis, University of Missouri, reprint by University Microfilms. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Flanagan, A. L. (1980-08-14), "Katherine K. Davis, 1892–1980", The American Organist, p. 31.
Livingston, C. (1983), "The Hymns of Katherine K. Davis", The Hymn, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 28–33.
