Americans Edmund Sears and Richard Willis composed this Christmas carol.
"Silent Night"
"Away in a Manger"
"It Came upon a Midnight Clear"
"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
"It Came upon a Midnight Clear," first performed in 1849. Sears, the lyricist, was a Unitarian minister in Massachusetts. Willis had become a friend of Felix Mendelssohn while living in Germany and adopted his melody "Carol" as the tune to "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." Willis composed many hymns and songs and was a music critic for The New York Tribune.