Music

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1 From the earliest times, music has played an important role in Christian worship, as well as in the worship of the Church’s predecessor, the Jewish Church (e.g., Exodus 15:20-21). Anglicanism in particular has a rich musical heritage.
Our music is considered sacred and an integral part of most of our worship services. With texts dating as early as the 2nd century and tunes as early as the 6th century, our service music includes ancient Hebrew psalms, plainsong, and traditional Anglican chant.  Our 1940 Hymnal includes sources ranging from the medieval to the Carolingian era, from Latin and Eastern Church canon to choral and symphonic works, and from the great hymnists of the 17th – 20th centuries.  It is indeed a “richly varied treasure bequeathed us from every age of the Church” through which we may “make the words the utterance of our own souls; the music the expression of our own personal worship, our own joy or sorrow or brave determination.” [From the Preface of the 1940 Hymnal, p. vi.]
 
We are constantly looking for voices and musicians; if you are interested in the music ministry, please get in touch with us.
 

Featured Hymn

Jesus Christ is Risen Today

 

This hymn (No. 85 in our Hymnal) has been in Anglican hymnals since 1874 and marks the first joyous reappearance of the refrain “Alleluia!” since the last Sunday after Epiphany.

The text comes from a 14th century Bohemian Latin carol called  Surrexit Christus hodie and is found in several manuscripts including Hohenfurth Abbey ms. 20, in which we also find the sources of two of our Hymnal’s Christmas selections: “He Whom Joyous Shepherds Praised” (No. 35); and “Dost Thou in a Manger Lie” (No. 29).  It originally consisted of eleven verses!

The Latin text was first translated into English by John Baptist Walsh.  He published the translation along with an anonymously composed tune, in his 1708 London collection Lyra Davidica, or A Collection of Divine Songs and Hymns. Lyra Davidica was among the first attempts to break away from traditional rigid psalmody.  The preface of this collection states that the intention of this hymn was to emphasize jubilant “Alleluias” and to achieve “a little freer air than the grand movement of the Psalm tunes.”   Of the three verses published in Lyra Davidica, only the first verse was a direct translation from the Latin, the other two having nothing to do with the Latin verses:

Jesus Christ is risen today, Halleluiah.
Our triumphant Holy day,
Who did once upon the Cross,
Suffered to redeem our loss.

Haste ye females from your fright, Halleluiah.
Take to Galilee your flight;
To his sad disciples say,
Jesus Christ is risen today.

In our Pascal joy and feast
Let the Lord of life be blest;
Let the Holy Triune praised,
And thankful hearts to heaven be raised.

The text was revised to its current form by John Arnold who published it in his Compleat Psalmodist, 2nd ed., 1749.  He kept the original 1st verse, but replaced the 2nd and 3rd verses with the familiar ones we know today. In addition, he reworked the original florid tune, creating a melodious hymn.

Eventually in 1860, after numerous appearances in various publications, a 4th verse Doxology was added, taken from Charles Wesley’s single-verse “Hymn to the Trinity,”  which had been published  in his 1740 collection, Hymns and Sacred Poems.  Thus we have the final four-verse hymn as it appears today in our 1940 Hymnal:

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Allelulia!

But the pains which he endured, Allelulia!
Our salvation have procured; Alleluia!
Now above the sky he’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as his love; Alleluia!
Praise him, all ye heav’nly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!

Note: There seems to be some confusion regarding this hymn.  In some hymnals today “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” is rephrased as “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”   But that is also the name of Charles Wesley’s 11-verse hymn, also based on the same Bohemian 14th c. Latin text. In 1739, he published this hymn under the title “Hymn for Easter Day” in Hymns and Sacred Poems.   The Wesley hymn appears in our 1940 Hymnal as No. 95 (2nd tune), and is set to the tune Gwalchmai.

 
 
 
 

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