Excell's Anthems II-03 - Nearer My God to Thee

January 10, 2019

English	German
First of all, Excell's Anthems is a choir book published in 1888 in two volumes. The publisher was Edwin Othello Excell (1851-1921) [1]. Both volumes were scanned and uploaded to archive.org [2, 3]	Zunächst sei gesagt, dass es sich bei dem Buch Excell's Anthems um ein Chorbuch handelt, welches 1888 in zwei Bänden erschienen ist. Der Editor war Edwin Othello Excell (1851-1921) [1]. Beide Bände wurden gescannt und bei archive.org [2, 3] hochgeladen.
The melody to the song Nearer My God, to Thee was written by the composer John R. Sweney (1837-1899) [4]. It uses the text of the famous poem Nearer My God, to Thee [5] written by Sarah Flower Adams (1805-1848) [6] with an unknown melody. It is quite different from the tune Bethany written by Lowell Mason (1792-1872) [7], which is the most famous musical setting.	Die Melodie zu dem Lied Nearer My God, to Thee (dt. Näher mein Gott, zu dir) wurde vom Komponisten John R. Sweney (1837-1899) [4] geschrieben. Sie verwendet das gleichnamige, berühmte Gedicht [5], welches von Sarah Flower Adams (1805-1848) [6] geschrieben wurde. Aber die Melodie unterscheidet sich stark von der Melodie Bethany von Lowell Mason (1792-1872) [7], die die bekannteste Vertonung des Gedichtes darstellt.
I found that song very recently and was able to play it in a concert arranged for two trumpets and organ. Being a brass music lover, the instruments chosen in the synthetic audio file are trumpet (soprano, alto), french horn (tenor), trombone (bass) and church organ.	Ich habe dieses Lied erst kürzlich gefunden und hatte die Gelegenheit, es arrangiert für zwei Trompeten und Orgel vorzutragen. Da ich ein Liebhaber von Blechblasmusik bin, habe ich in der synthetisierten Audio-Datei die Instrumente Trompete (Sopran, Alt), Horn (Tenor), Posaune (Bass) und die Kirchenorgel ausgewählt.
The logo of version 3 of the notation software MuseScore. - Das Logo der Version 3 des Notensatzprogramms MuseScore. Download: https://musescore.org/en

The scans (5) and data links - die Scans und Links zu den Dateien (5):
MuseScore (.mscz)	PDF	Text
MIDI	MP3	All Excell's Anthems files

Nearer, my God, to Thee.

Tune: John R. Sweney (1837-1899)
Text: Sarah Flower Adams (1805-1848)

1.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee.

2.
Thou like a wanderer, the sun gone down;
darkness be over me, My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee.

3.
There let the way appear, steps unto heav'n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv'n;
Angels to beckon me,
Nearer, my God, to Thee.

4.
Then with my waking tho'ts, bright with thy praise;
Out of my stony griefs, Bethel I'll raise;
So by my woes I'd be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee.

5.
And when on joyful wing, cleaving the sky;
Sun, moon and stars forgot, upward I fly;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee.

Excell's Anthems Vol. II. 1888, Edwin Othello Excell, Chicago, IL.

_{[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Excell
[2] Excell's Anthems Vol. I. 1888, Edwin Othello Excell, Chicago, IL. On archive.org: https://archive.org/details/excellsanthemsfo00exce
[3] Excell's Anthems Vol. II. 1888, Edwin Othello Excell, Chicago, IL. On archive.org: https://archive.org/details/excellsanthemsfo00chic
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Sweney
[5] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Näher,_mein_Gott,_zu_Dir
[6] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Flower_Adams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Flower_Adams
[7] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mason}