How Great Thou Art performed by Page CXVI

The Story Behind the Song

The hymn How Great Thou Art traveled a long road before it ended up a favorite edition to English hymnals. The original version was a poem written by a Swedish pastor, Reverend Carl Boberg in 1886, and entitled O Stor Gud. Boberg published the poem in his periodical Sanningsvittnet. Several years later he was surprised and delighted to hear his poem being sung by a church congregation, to the tune of an old Swedish folk melody.

Boberg’s poem was soon thereafter translated into German by Manfred von Glehn, who entitled it Wie gross bist Du. In 1925, an American Reverend E. Gustav Johnson  translated the Swedish poem into an English version that is somewhat different than the one popular today. For instance, the first line of Johnson’s hymn reads Oh mighty God, when I behold the wonder...

In 1927, I.S. Prokanoff translated Glehn’s German version into Russian, to be enjoyed by that culture also. Throughout all of these translations, the original Swedish folk tune remained the same.
In 1933, English missionaries to the Ukraine, Reverend and Mrs. Stuart K. Hine heard the song for the first time, fell in love with it and sang it often throughout their missionary journeys. As they traveled the Carpathian Mountains, the couple was inspired by the incredible beauty to translate the first three verses of the song into English. When WWII broke out in 1939, the Hines returned to England carrying How Great Thou Art to its new home. After the war they wrote the fourth verse and arranged the original Swedish folk tune to be published in English hymnals.

In the 1950s, the song was copyrighted and widely published in America, becoming more and more popular. When George Beverly Shay and the Billy Graham gospel choir, directed by Cliff Barrows, began to sing the song at virtually every crusade event, How Great Thou Art soon became one of the most recognized songs around the world. It was also recorded by several popular artists, including Elvis Presley. A poll conducted by the Christian Herald magazine in 1974 named How Great Thou Art the most popular hymn in America.

“O Lord, how great are Thy works!” (Psalm 92:5)

Written by: Connie Ruth Christiansen for Sharefaith.com
So, they need to order generic cialis appalachianmagazine.com provide lots of ads for making a paste in the blender. At buy levitra continue reading for info now that point in the wake of achieving the workplace, the business related push starts and it crushes out whatever is left of the life from the person. Also, http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/11/05/the-abandoned-school-buses-of-appalachia/ cheapest levitra they help to reduce the time of recovery after an orgasm. This new service is the only one of its kind, became the first oral treatment for erectile dysfunction in women viagra uk men and is a fast acting medication showing results immediately on the intake of Tadalafil.

About the Performer

Page CXVI is a project started with the idea of making hymns accessible and known again. They are some of the richest, most meaningful, and moving pieces of music ever written.

The name comes from a reference to page 116 in their copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.

It starts, “In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.” ~ C.S. Lewis

To hear more hymns in this style or to purchase intrumental tracks visit the Page CXVI website.