Some felt they owned a new, rewritten version of the hymn after hearing modern renditions by artists such as Judy Collins, Jackson or Franklin, while others felt conflicted but hoped that Newton’s eventual rejection of the slave trade meant he had been redeemed. Responses from people aware of Newton’s past in the slave trade came in one of two kinds. “It is regarded as a comfort, which is an idea I have used in the first stanzas I have written, using the imagery of a warm coat, after speaking to some refugees from Ukraine.” What was clear, Smith said, is that the hymn is seen as a kind of musical sanctuary in turbulent times. Piecing together all the implications of this backstory, Smith has focused on the responses to a succession of interviews with refugees, activists, members of the clergy, asylum seekers, church-goers and some of the black residents now living in the area around Olney, as well as with contacts in Sierra Leone. skip past newsletter promotionĪ stained glass window of the Rev John Newton in St Peter and St Paul church in Olney, Buckinghamshire. The level of his evangelical conviction then prompted friends to suggest he join the English clergy. His religious conversion came in 1748 at the end of a stormy voyage back to England via Ireland. Newton even briefly suffered a period of a slavery himself, held in bonded service to a high-ranking member of the Sherbro people in what is now Sierra Leone. Then came an enforced period as the crew of slave ship and the beginning of a lucrative career investing in the trade. Press-ganged into the navy, he survived hardships at sea and also built up a reputation among shipmates for writing obscene rhymes. Born in Wapping, east London in 1725, his unhappy childhood at home and boarding school was followed by a career on the high seas. Newton’s own life story certainly lives up to the emotional rollercoaster of his powerful lyric. “These performances, particularly the live ones in front of an audience, often have ad-libbed lines, or added jazz scatting, about issues of the moment.” “Black Americans have claimed it, with versions by Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson and Whitney Houston, each re-authoring it with their singing,” said Smith. Today, the many versions of the popular tune, whether sung in the gospel style, in a rowdy pub, or by a great soul diva, have given it a layered series of meanings. The tune that most people know, arranged in 1909 by the American music publisher and composer EO Excell, is one of several the lyric was first set to. “I want to look at the song’s enduring properties and its reach, as well as at the puzzle of Newton’s slave trading past.” “Our new musical piece will reflect on all that,” said Smith. It was also sung by US President Barack Obama at the 2015 funeral for one of the victims of a mass shooting at a Charleston church. Smith plans to explain the wider impact of Amazing Grace, which is still such a standard in America that it accompanied the 2020 funeral of George Floyd, the victim of police violence whose death sparked worldwide protests. The town’s Cowper & Newton Museum has helped Smith with her research following her commission last summer, when The Stables, Milton Keynes’ theatre and music venue, approached her to write the libretto. Newton worked on a series of hymns in Olney with the poet William Cowper, and the duo are a key part of the cultural heritage of the area. Rommi Smith’s libretto is inspired by interviews with refugees.
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