the art of context

8/13/2019 The Art of Context

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rg first published "O Store Gud" in theMnsters Tidningen(Mnsters News) on 13 March

1! #1$%

&he poe' beca'e 'atched to an old Swedish fol tune and sung in public for the first nown

occasion in a church in the Swedish proince of *+r'landin 1#11%,ight erses appeared

with the 'usic in the 1-$ Sions Harpan#1.%

/n 1-$ 0oberg beca'e the editor of Sanningsvittnet(&he itness for the &ruth) &he words

and 'usic were published for the first ti'e in the 1! 2pril 1-1 edition of Sanningsvittnet

/nstru'entation for both piano and guitar was proided b 2dolph ,dgren (born 145 died

1-.1 in ashington 67)8 a 'usic teacher and organist8 who later 'igrated to the 9nited

States#13%

0oberg later sold the rights to the Sensa Missionsfrbundet (Mission 7oenant 7hurch of

Sweden) /n 1-1 all nine erses were published in the 1-1 7oenant songboo8

Sanningsvittnet#1$%&hese ersions were all in 3:; ti'e /n 1-; the Svenska

Missionsfrbundet sngbok#1;%published "O Store Gud" in ;:; ti'eas it has been sung eersince)#13%

Horst Wessel Lied

&he tune is si'ilar to the tune of the iedthough neither copied the other 0oth

copied traditional Northern ,uropean fol 'usic Nu'erous 'usicologists#14%hae pointed

out that the 'etrical patternand chord progressionsof "O Store Gud" are si'ilar to those of

the "ied" (first line "6ie ?ahne hoch")8 which theNa@iscusto'aril appended

to "6eutschland Aber 2lles" (the Ger'an national anthe') /nfor'ed opinion

oerwhel'ingl denies that


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who had heard the h'n in ,stonia8 where there was a Swedish speaing 'inorit /t was

first published inBlankenburger ieder#13%&he song beca'e popular in Ger'an8 where

"ie groE bist 6u" is the co''on title (the first line is "6u groEer Gott") #1-%

Russian translation (1912)

,entuall8 the Ger'an ersion traeled toussiawhere a ussianersion entitled "*elii

0og" (JKL PQR = Great God)#.$%was produced in 1-1. b /an S rohano (1!-T

1-34)8#.1%the "Martin >uther of ussia"8#13%and "the 'ost prolific rotestant h'n writer and

translator in all of ussia" at that ti'e#..%in a ussian=language rotestant h'nboo

published in St etersburg (later >eningrad)8!"#vali(7'bals)#13%2n enlarged edition of

this h'nboo entitled "Songs of a 7hristian"8 including "*elii 0og" was released in 1-.H#13%

English translations

E. Gusta !ohnson (192")

&he first literal ,nglish translation of $ store %udwas b , Gusta Bohnson (1-3T1-H;)8#.3%

then a professor ofNorth ar 7ollege8 /llinois


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/ plead for 'erc and for grace and peace8

/ feel th bal' and8 all ' bruises healing8

M soul is filled8 ' heart is set at ease

2nd when at last the 'ists of ti'e hae anished

2nd / in truth ' faith confir'ed shall see89pon the shores where earthl ills are banished

/Ull enter >ord8 to dwell in peace with thee#.!%

/n 1--! BohnsonIs translation was replaced in T'e &ovenant H"#nal() *ors'ipbook

because ", Gusta BohnsonUs ersion which8 while closer to the original8 uses a 'ore archaic

language"#.4%

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