Q 01/05

Who wrote the words to 'Amazing Grace', published in 1779?

A) Isaac Watts

B) Charles Wesley

C) John Newton

D) William Cowper

Answer · why

C) John Newton

He was a former slave-ship sailor turned clergyman at Olney; Cowper co-wrote the Olney Hymns collection with him.

Q 02/05

'How Great Thou Art' began as a poem in which language?

A) Swedish

B) German

C) Welsh

D) Norwegian

Answer · why

A) Swedish

Carl Boberg wrote 'O Store Gud' in 1885; George Beverly Shea made it famous at Billy Graham crusades.

Q 03/05

Which instrument accompanied the first performance of 'Silent Night' on Christmas Eve 1818?

A) Organ

B) Piano

C) Harp

D) Guitar

Answer · why

D) Guitar

Franz Xaver Gruber set Joseph Mohr's words in Oberndorf, possibly because flooding had damaged the church organ.

Q 04/05

In which city was Handel's Messiah first performed in 1742?

A) London

B) Dublin

C) Vienna

D) Halle

Answer · why

B) Dublin

Charles Jennens compiled the text from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter.

Q 05/05

Which gospel singer's 1947 recording 'Move On Up a Little Higher' sold two million copies?

A) Mahalia Jackson

B) Sister Rosetta Tharpe

C) Clara Ward

D) Aretha Franklin

Answer · why

A) Mahalia Jackson

She later sang at the 1963 March on Washington and holds a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.