Amazing grace
Amazing Grace (German: Amazing Grace ) is an English-language spiritual song that is one of the most popular hymns in the world. In 1972 it topped the UK charts in a version by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards .
History of origin
Amazing Grace owes its creation to a key experience of its author John Newton , who was the captain of a slave ship . After he got into serious distress on May 10, 1748 and was rescued after invoking the mercy of God, he first treated the slaves in a more humane way. After a few years he even gave up his profession altogether, instead becoming a clergyman and advocating the fight against slavery together with William Wilberforce .
melody
The melody known worldwide today, the so-called New Britain , first appeared in a hymn book from 1831, the Virginia Harmony . It is pentatonic and is said to originally go back to US or British roots, but is also attributed to James P. Carrell and David S. Clayton. The original text that was originally sung to the melody has now been lost. The text usually sung today by John Newton is occasionally sung with a different melody, the Old Regular Baptist, composed in Kentucky in 1958 .
In its aftermath, the harmonization, as offered in the hymn book Southern Harmony of 1835, is particularly significant . The compositional style that is characteristic of this hymn book , in which the main melody is in the middle voice and is accompanied by a lower sung voice above or below, can be found in American music for vocal trios to this day and is particularly known for the style of the Andrews Sisters .
![X: 1 T: Amazing Grace M: 3/4 L: 1/4 K: G D | G2 B / G / | B2A | G2E | D2 D | G2B / G / | B2B / d / | d2 B | d2B / G / | B2A | G2E | D2 D | G2 B / G / | B2 A | G2 |]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/score/5/h/5hh28oaoo0zf0svorgrokvpxtz8dowt/5hh28oao.png)
text
In the text, first published in 1779 in the Olney Hymns , John Newton tells of his conversion to Christianity . It is loosely based on several biblical passages, including the description of God's grace in Eph 2.8 EU and the healing of the blind according to John 9.25 EU .
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Some versions of the song include an additional stanza:
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This stanza is not from Newton, but was taken from the novel Onkel Toms Hütte by Harriet Beecher Stowe . The protagonist Uncle Tom combines the verses of different songs. Those who took the lyrics from this book assumed that the verse was part of the full lyrics.
Some versions also contain the following stanza:
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This was inserted into their version of the song by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie . It actually belongs to the song Am I a Soldier of the Cross? by Isaac Watts .
There is also a German adaptation of the song with the beginning (title) Oh Gnade Gottes, Wunderbar .
Impact history
Amazing Grace enjoyed great popularity with both parties of the American Civil War as well as with the Indians . The Cherokee are even considered to be the unofficial national anthem, because during the infamous Path of Tears in 1838 they often buried their dead for lack of time without a major ceremony, but only with the singing of Amazing Grace . The song is still often played and sung at funerals or memorial events, such as in 2004 on the occasion of the funeral of former US President Ronald Reagan and in 2015 on the occasion of the memorial service for the victims of the Charleston attack .
Although the hymn was from a Euro-American involved in the slave trade, Amazing Grace was adopted by the African-American spiritual and gospel scene . It was interpreted by the Blind Boys of Alabama as well as by Mahalia Jackson , Aretha Franklin or the Montreal Jubiliation Gospel Choir and the Harlem Gospel Choir. Today Amazing Grace is one of the most popular hymns in the world and is sung by members of the most diverse Christian denominations . In addition, the piece is considered a protest song against slavery as well as a hymn by Christian and non-Christian human rights activists .
In the 1960s, the song, which was originally distributed almost exclusively in the USA, reached the British Isles. There was Amazing Grace particular bagpipe versions of popular, also because musicians as part of the folk reinforced -Revivals recollected on the traditional melodies and songs. Therefore, there are numerous instrumental versions, especially of Scottish Highlanders, of which the commercially most successful comes from the military band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards , which was even number 1 in the UK sales charts in 1972 .
Until the 1969 film Alice's Restaurant by Arthur Penn , the song was rather unknown outside of churches and folk festivals. In 1972 it was widely used in free and evangelical congregations under the title Wie das Licht nach der Nacht , sung by Siegfried Fietz, with a text transmission by Renate Wagner.
In the course of time the song has been edited many times and interpreted by a large number of artists that can hardly be overlooked. These include Meryl Streep (1983 in her film Silkwood ), Connie Francis , Ray Price , Vera Lynn , Janis Joplin , Elvis Presley , Judy Collins , Hayley Westenra , Johnny Cash , Yes , Rod Stewart , Willie Nelson , George Jones , Groundhogs , Vicky Leandros , Lena Valaitis (1976), Helmut Lotti , Die Flippers (1991), Ireen Sheer , David Hasselhoff , André Rieu , The Priests , Céline Dion , Steve Morse , Nana Mouskouri , Charlotte Church , LeAnn Rimes as well as Katie Melua and Jessye Norman . In 1985 Joan Baez opened her contribution to the legendary Live Aid concert for the benefit of hunger relief in Africa with a performance of Amazing Grace . Mike Oldfield used the text with a new melody on his album The Millennium Bell and at the concert at the Berlin Victory Column at the turn of the year 1999/2000. There are also punk ( Dropkick Murphys ) and heavy metal versions ( Stryper ). US President Barack Obama sang the song at the memorial service for the victims of the attack in Charleston , in which nine African Americans were killed on June 17, 2015 . The hymn “Shine on my star Borussia” by the Borussia Dortmund football club is also based on “Amazing Grace”.
The song has also become a jazz standard . But the title that Louis Armstrong introduced to jazz and which can be heard often in the marching bands of New Orleans jazz and in Dixieland is rarely played in modern jazz . Here interpretations by Herbie Mann , Archie Shepp , David Murray and Cassandra Wilson should be emphasized. Even Diane Schuur and Gabrielle Goodman sang the song in the jazz context; bassist Victor Wooten has released a bass version of the track. The composer Ben Johnston , an important exponent of Extended Just Intonation , created his 4th string quartet Ascent. Amazing Grace as a large, over ten minute, pure mood variation on the song.
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .
- Steve Turner: Amazing Grace. John Newton and the moving story of his world-famous song . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2007. ISBN 3-7655-1950-2 .
Web links
- Al Rogers: Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton. In: texasfasola.org. July 1996 (English).
- Choral setting by Ulrich Kaiser - freely copyable and GEMA-free sheet music for download
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to https://www.deutschland-lese.de/index.php?article_id=624 , the song was translated by Anton Schulte in 1973 .
- ↑ Obama Sings 'Amazing Grace'
- ↑ http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/16039649 German transmission of the lyrics.
- ↑ President Obama Sings 'Amazing Grace' during Eulogy at Clementa Funeral Charleston Shooting Speech . Video on Youtube.com , accessed May 7, 2016.
- ↑ Traugott Schächtele: Sermon on the song Amazing Grace. schächtele.net, August 13, 2016, accessed January 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Ben Johnston, String Quartet No. 4, "Amazing Grace"