Nearer, My God, to Thee
Sarah Flower Adams's hymn to Lowell Mason's tune Bethany, in Mason's own four parts as his Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book printed them in 1859, the earliest printing with these words found, for 2 to 4 singers: the first verse, calm and even, every line one breath.
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The first verse
Words: Sarah Flower Adams (1841)Tune: Lowell Mason, "Bethany" (usually dated 1856)
Nearer, my God, to thee,Nearer to thee:Ev'n though it be a crossThat raiseth me,Still all my song shall be,Nearer, my God, to thee,Nearer, my God, to thee,Nearer to thee.
About Nearer, My God, to Thee
Nearer, My God, to Thee has words by Sarah Flower Adams, who wrote them for the hymn book of William Johnson Fox's chapel in London, in print by 1841, retelling Jacob's dream in Genesis 28, of a ladder between earth and heaven. Some Titanic survivors said the ship's band played it as she sank; others denied it, so no one knows for sure. Its tune, Bethany, is by Lowell Mason, and our arrangement is read from his own four parts in The Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book of 1859, in G as printed. This is the first verse for 2 to 4 singers, calm and even, every line one breath.
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