Away in a Blank Trivia Quiz

Answer:

'Away in a Manger' is a popular Christmas carol believed to have been written in the late 19th century. For a while it was attributed to the German theologian and Protestant reformer Martin Luther however this has now been deemed not to be the case as there is no evidence of an earlier German version of the carol and it does not fit with Luther's usual style.

The first two verses of the carol first appeared in 1882 in the American, Christian newspaper 'The Christian Cynosure' and the two verse version appears in a number of other publications throughout the 1880s. The third verse first appeared in print in 1892 in a book called 'Gabriel's Vineyard Songs' by the US gospel composer Charles H. Gabriel. There is some dispute over who wrote this third verse with Bishop William F. Anderson attributing it to a Dr John T. McFarland; however Anderson says McFarland wrote it in the 1900s which, given the third verse first appeared in 1892, suggests this story may not be correct. Other researchers have suggested that it is more likely that Gabriel added the third verse for inclusion in his song book.

The carol can be sung to many tunes. In the US the most common tune is called 'Mueller' and was written by James R. Murray, who titled it 'Luther's Cradle Hymn'. Instead of putting his name to the composition Murray only put his initials which led to the tune being mis-credited to a Carl Mueller hence the name of the tune being Mueller. In the UK, Ireland and Canada the most commonly used tune is called 'Cradle Song'. This tune was written by the American William J. Kirkpatrick and was first published in his 1895 collection 'Around the World with Christmas'. It gained popularity in the UK when it was included in the 'Sunday School Hymnary' in 1905, a collection of hymns designed for use by Sunday Schools put together by the British Baptist minister Carey Bonner.