Music / Religion
Richard Storrs Willis
1819–1900 · hymn composer, music critic, editor
Composer of the tune 'Carol' for It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, who moved to Detroit during the Civil War, lived there for the rest of his life and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Willis was born in Boston in 1819; his brother was the poet Nathaniel Parker Willis and his sister the columnist Fanny Fern. After Yale he spent six years in Germany studying with Xavier Schnyder and Moritz Hauptmann, then returned to New York as a music critic for the Tribune and The Albion and as editor of The Musical Times and his own journals. In 1850 he wrote the melody known as Carol, which in the United States became the standard tune for Edmund Sears's Christmas hymn It Came Upon the Midnight Clear; he is also associated with the familiar American version of Fairest Lord Jesus. When the Civil War broke out he moved to Detroit, where he lived for the rest of his life, apart from years spent in Italy in the 1870s while his daughter studied there. He died in Detroit in 1900 and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery on Woodward Avenue.
Highlights
- Composed the tune Carol for It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1850)
- Studied six years in Germany with Moritz Hauptmann
- Music critic for the New York Tribune; editor of The Musical Times
- Lived in Detroit from the Civil War until his death in 1900
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1900
Woodlawn Cemetery
Willis is buried in this Woodward Avenue cemetery, resting place of many prominent Detroiters.