Away In A Manger
James R. Murray
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Browse piano sheets by James R. Murray on Zen Virtual Piano. James Ramsey Murray (1841–1905) was born in Ballardvale to a family of skilled Scottish craftsmen. As a teen he worked for the rubber cement manufacturer Henry Tyer, but after a severe illness he took the advice of the Reverend Henry S. Greene, from whom he received music instruction, to devote his life to the musical profession. He studied at the Musical Institute in North Reading with teachers including George Root, Lowell Mason, William Bradbury and George Webb. A boy from Ballardvale who turned from rubber cement to music on a minister’s advice can be read as a career opened step by step by teachers. Murray enlisted in December 1861 as a musician in the Massachusetts 28th Infantry, but transferred in the summer of 1862, when regimental bands were discontinued, to Andover’s Company H. He helped write Daisy Deane in an American Civil War camp. After the war he taught piano and singing in Andover before accepting a position with the Chicago publishing house Root and Cady, as editor of The Song Messenger. Helping to write Daisy Deane in a Civil War camp, and later editing The Song Messenger, can be read as a path from army life to editorial work. He stayed with Root and Cady until the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, after which he returned to Andover, where he taught music in the public schools. In 1881 he moved to Cincinnati, where he was editor of the Musical Visitor for the John Church Company. Teaching in the public schools after the Song Messenger years, and then editing the Musical Visitor, makes a career that turned toward teaching and editing in turn. Among his credits, he helped produce the singing lesson book The Pacific Glee Book with Frederic Woodman Root. He published many songs and hymns, most notably the Christmas carol Away in a Manger in 1887. James R. Murray first published the melody, as Luther’s Cradle Hymn, in his collection Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses (1887). A portrait of him by Jacob Henry Hall is in the Library of Congress, and he died in Cincinnati on 10 March 1905 and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery. A melody first published as Luther’s Cradle Hymn and a portrait held by the Library of Congress are two traces of his work and likeness that have been kept.
Browse piano sheets by James R. Murray on Zen Virtual Piano.
James Ramsey Murray (1841–1905) was born in Ballardvale to a family of skilled Scottish craftsmen. As a teen he worked for the rubber cement manufacturer Henry Tyer, but after a severe illness he took the advice of the Reverend Henry S. Greene, from whom he received music instruction, to devote his life to the musical profession. He studied at the Musical Institute in North Reading with teachers including George Root, Lowell Mason, William Bradbury and George Webb. A boy from Ballardvale who turned from rubber cement to music on a minister’s advice can be read as a career opened step by step by teachers.
Murray enlisted in December 1861 as a musician in the Massachusetts 28th Infantry, but transferred in the summer of 1862, when regimental bands were discontinued, to Andover’s Company H. He helped write Daisy Deane in an American Civil War camp. After the war he taught piano and singing in Andover before accepting a position with the Chicago publishing house Root and Cady, as editor of The Song Messenger. Helping to write Daisy Deane in a Civil War camp, and later editing The Song Messenger, can be read as a path from army life to editorial work.
He stayed with Root and Cady until the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, after which he returned to Andover, where he taught music in the public schools. In 1881 he moved to Cincinnati, where he was editor of the Musical Visitor for the John Church Company. Teaching in the public schools after the Song Messenger years, and then editing the Musical Visitor, makes a career that turned toward teaching and editing in turn.
Among his credits, he helped produce the singing lesson book The Pacific Glee Book with Frederic Woodman Root. He published many songs and hymns, most notably the Christmas carol Away in a Manger in 1887. James R. Murray first published the melody, as Luther’s Cradle Hymn, in his collection Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses (1887). A portrait of him by Jacob Henry Hall is in the Library of Congress, and he died in Cincinnati on 10 March 1905 and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery. A melody first published as Luther’s Cradle Hymn and a portrait held by the Library of Congress are two traces of his work and likeness that have been kept.
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James R. Murray
Common questions
James Ramsey Murray (1841–1905) was a music teacher and music editor, born in Ballardvale.
Murray published the melody under the title Luther’s Cradle Hymn in his collection Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses (1887), and he published the Christmas carol Away in a Manger in 1887.
He was editor of The Song Messenger for Root and Cady in Chicago and in Cincinnati editor of the Musical Visitor for the John Church Company in Cincinnati.
He enlisted in December 1861 as a musician in the Massachusetts 28th Infantry and transferred to Andover’s Company H.