50 Fun Facts About Hymn

Who wrote the words to 'Amazing Grace'?

Newton was a former slave-ship captain turned Anglican curate; the hymn illustrated a New Year's Day sermon in 1773.

In which hymn collection did 'Amazing Grace' first appear in print, in 1779?

Newton compiled it with the poet William Cowper while curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire.

What is the name of the tune to which 'Amazing Grace' has been sung since 1835?

William Walker joined the words to the tune in his shape-note book Southern Harmony; more than 20 melodies had been tried before.

Before his conversion, the author of Amazing Grace made his living how?

A violent storm in 1748 prompted his cry to God for mercy; he later became an abolitionist and lived to see the trade banned in 1807.

Carl Boberg's 1885 poem 'O Store Gud', later a famous English hymn, was written in which language?

Carl Boberg wrote 'O Store Gud' in 1885 after watching a thunderstorm clear over Mönsterås Bay.

Which English missionary produced the 1949 translation of 'O Store Gud' sung by George Beverly Shea?

Shea and Barrows popularised it at the great postwar crusades, and Elvis won a Grammy for it in 1967.

Elvis Presley won his first Grammy in 1967 for a gospel album named after which hymn?

It was his second gospel LP; he won another Grammy for a live version of the same hymn in 1974.

Henry Francis Lyte wrote 'Abide with Me' in 1847 while dying of which disease?

It was first sung at his own funeral; he died in Nice a few weeks after writing it.

What is the name of William Henry Monk's tune for 'Abide with Me'?

Monk was the original editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern; Melita is the Navy Hymn tune, Diademata belongs to Crown Him with Many Crowns.

'Abide with Me' is traditionally sung before which annual sporting event?

The tradition dates to 1927 (Arsenal v Cardiff), after the crowd sang it while the pitch was cleared at the 1923 final.

Who wrote 'Rock of Ages'?

The famous story of him sheltering from a storm in a cleft at Burrington Combe surfaced only in 1898 and most hymnologists doubt it.

'Be Thou My Vision' is a translation of a poem in which language?

Mary Elizabeth Byrne translated it in 1905, Eleanor Hull versified it in 1912, and it has been sung to the folk tune Slane since 1919.

Which hymn is famously said to have been played by the band as the Titanic sank?

Sarah Flower Adams' hymn retells Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven; it was also sung as the SS Valencia sank in 1906.

Which Savoy operas composer wrote the tune 'St Gertrude' for 'Onward, Christian Soldiers'?

Sabine Baring-Gould dashed off the words in about 15 minutes for children processing between churches in 1865.

Which organisation adopted 'Onward, Christian Soldiers' as its favoured processional?

Baring-Gould later apologised that some of the lines were faulty because he wrote it in such haste.

Who wrote both the words and the tune of 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God'?

Written around 1527-29 and paraphrasing Psalm 46, it has been called the Battle Hymn of the Reformation.

Which poet called 'Ein feste Burg' the Marseillaise of the Reformation?

The hymn has been translated into English at least seventy times, including Thomas Carlyle's 'A safe stronghold'.

'Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty' was written by which Anglican bishop for Trinity Sunday?

It paraphrases Revelation 4 and is sung to John Bacchus Dykes' tune Nicaea, named for the council that defined the Trinity.

Horatio Spafford wrote 'It Is Well with My Soul' after his four daughters died in what disaster?

Philip Bliss named the tune 'Ville du Havre'; Spafford had already lost a son and his fortune in the Chicago fire.

Roughly how many hymns and gospel songs did the blind writer Fanny Crosby produce?

She was called the Queen of Gospel Song Writers, and Ira Sankey credited her hymns for the success of the Moody revivals.

Fanny Crosby wrote the words of 'Blessed Assurance' in 1873 to a tune by which friend?

Knapp played the new melody on her piano while a pipe organ was being installed and asked Crosby what the tune said.

Fanny Crosby was the first woman to do what in the United States Senate?

She had gone to Washington in 1843 to lobby for education for the blind.

Isaac Watts, credited with about 750 hymns, is known by what nickname?

His works include Joy to the World, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and Our God, Our Help in Ages Past.

'Our God, Our Help in Ages Past' paraphrases which chapter of the Psalter?

John Wesley changed 'Our God' to 'O God' in 1738, and both versions remain in use; the tune is William Croft's St. Anne.

Charles Wesley, the Methodist leader, wrote roughly how many hymns?

They include And Can It Be, Love Divine All Loves Excelling and the carol Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

'Great Is Thy Faithfulness' takes its title phrase from which Old Testament book?

Thomas Chisholm wrote the poem in 1923 and William Runyan set it in Kansas; the postwar evangelistic crusades made it famous.

For whom did Cecil Frances Alexander write the 1848 collection containing 'All Things Bright and Beautiful'?

Hymns for Little Children also gave the world Once in Royal David's City and There Is a Green Hill Far Away.

Whose 1916 setting turned Blake's 'And did those feet in ancient time' into 'Jerusalem'?

Poet Laureate Robert Bridges asked for simple music a wartime audience could join in; Elgar later orchestrated it.

'The Old Rugged Cross' was written in 1912 by which Methodist evangelist?

He wrote the first verse in Albion, Michigan, after being ridiculed at a revival meeting.

Joseph Scriven wrote 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' as a poem in 1855 to comfort whom?

He was living in Canada and published it anonymously; he was not fully credited until the 1880s.

Charlotte Elliott's 'Just as I Am' became the altar-call song of which evangelist's crusades?

It first appeared in the Christian Remembrancer, which Elliott edited from 1836; the usual tune is Bradbury's Woodworth.

'Eternal Father, Strong to Save' is the service hymn of which armed force?

William Whiting wrote it in 1860 from Psalm 107; the US Navy adopted it too, which is why it is called the Navy Hymn.

'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross' was innovative in 1707 for what reason?

Isaac Watts had complained as a teenager that singing only psalms left the faithful unable to express Christian faith.

'Lift Every Voice and Sing' was written by James Weldon Johnson to commemorate whose birthday?

His brother J. Rosamond Johnson set it to music; the NAACP dubbed it the Negro national anthem in 1919.

Julia Ward Howe adapted the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' from which Union marching song?

She sold the words to The Atlantic Monthly for $4 in 1862.

The Baptist pastor who wrote 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing' in 1757 was how old at the time?

The Baptist pastor penned it in 1757; the familiar American tune is Nettleton, from John Wyeth's 1813 collection.

What was C. Austin Miles, writer of 'In the Garden', before he became a hymn editor?

The 1912 song reflects on Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb; Elvis, Johnny Cash and Doris Day all recorded it.

The tune 'Old Hundredth', used for the Doxology, comes from which 16th-century psalm book?

It is usually attributed to Louis Bourgeois and was first attached to Psalm 134, not Psalm 100.

The Sacred Harp singing tradition uses how many note shapes?

Fa is a triangle, sol an oval, la a rectangle and mi a diamond; the tunebook was first printed in 1844.

Hymns Ancient and Modern, the great Church of England hymnal, was first published in which year?

It grew out of the Oxford Movement and its first edition, edited by William Henry Monk, had 273 hymns.

'Lead, Kindly Light' was written in 1833 by which future cardinal, then an Anglican?

He wrote it as a poem called The Pillar of the Cloud while becalmed at sea; Newman was canonised in 2019.

'Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee' sets Henry van Dyke's words to a melody by which composer?

Van Dyke wrote the 1907 poem to fit the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.

Cat Stevens took which 1931 hymn by Eleanor Farjeon into the US top ten in 1972?

It is sung to Bunessan, a Scottish Gaelic tune named for a village on the Isle of Mull.

'I'll Fly Away', called the most recorded gospel song, was written by whom?

He got the idea while picking cotton in Oklahoma in 1928 and took three years to finish it.

'Cwm Rhondda', the tune of 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer', was written in 1907 by whom?

William Williams wrote the Welsh text in the 18th century; Hughes composed the tune for a chapel organ inauguration in Hopkinstown.

'Veni Creator Spiritus', sung at papal conclaves, is attributed to which ninth-century monk?

The great Reformer based his Pentecost chorale on it in 1524.

'How Firm a Foundation', published in 1787, was which general's favourite hymn?

Its author is given only as 'K', probably Robert Keene; it was also in the first Latter Day Saint hymnbook of 1835.

Which pharaoh composed the Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten?

Other ancient hymns include the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal and the Vedic hymns of the Rigveda.

Count Zinzendorf, who wrote some 2,000 hymns in the 18th century, was a bishop of which denomination?

George Herbert, the Anglican metaphysical poet, is another whose verse ended up in the hymnals.

The Kesh temple hymn, called the world's oldest surviving literary text, comes from which culture?

The Western tradition begins later with the Homeric Hymns, the oldest of which date from the 7th century BC.