HOTC #28: LSB 459, Christ Is Arisen

Tympanum of St. Peter’s Cathedral, Worms, Germany

We have reached this, possibly the oldest religious or liturgical song originally written in the German language. This Easter hymn is very much related to the previous entry, sharing both text and tune source material. There are significant differences, of course, not least of all length. Both are cast in Dorian mode, which, as discussed last week, I feel contributes to their seeming unpopularity in modern and current usage.

Nevertheless, this hymn stands on its own quite well, and explores many of the themes from last week in its own way. Combined with the Victimae Paschali on the following page (Lutheran Service Book offers an option to integrate the two musically) it reaches back nearly a thousand years to meditate on the greatest scene in the greatest story ever told

The Author

For all the similarities between this hymn and the previous one, “Christ is Arisen” is clearly the earlier and simpler version. It arose in the Middle Ages as a folk hymn, and eventually was included in the Easter Vigil alongside Wipo of Burgundy’s Victimae Paschali, just as it appears here in Lutheran Service Book. Its usage is recorded in an order of service from Salzburg in 1160, and it is likely somewhat older than that. As such, we can assign this hymn to that most prolific and popular of all hymnwriters: Anonymous.

As an interesting piece of historical fact, this hymn appears to have been something of a battle anthem for the Teutonic Order, who are known to have sung it both at the conclusion of the 1362 Siege of Kaunas and before the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, and also possibly on other occasions.

The Text

“Christ ist erstanden” appears at the top of the page containing the *Victimae paschali laudes* in this medieval manuscript

This text is essentially a simplified prototype for Luther’s “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands,” which draws on it as well as the two hymns’ shared source material, the Victimae Paschali. Both Luther’s hymn and the Victimae, however, spend many lines in meditation and explanation of the events, whereas “Christ is Arisen” is essentially pure narrative.

Where Luther begins his hymn with the dead Christ in the tomb, this hymn begins with the ancient proclamation of the risen Christ, “Christ is arisen.” This is in keeping with its place in the Easter Vigil liturgy of the Middle Ages: interspersed with the Victimae Paschalis, immediately after the choir’s proclamation that “He has risen, as He said.”

The narrative after the first two lines becomes present tense: in the Easter Vigil we are reliving the Resurrection in real time, and the final two verses highlight the joy motivated within the Christian by these events.

The hymn is intended to be interwoven with LSB #460 on the following page, and the Organists’ Edition of the hymnal provides a musical setting for this, with a cantor or choir singing the Victimae Paschali and the congregation singing “Christ is Arisen,” though the Victimae could also be read, rather than sung. The notation on page #459 of the Pew Edition of Lutheran Service Book does not make this terribly apparent, however.

While last week I attributed the decline in usage of “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” to the current seeming requirement for bright happy music on Easter, this hymn suffers from the double whammy of being a minor-key Easter hymn and of having its natural habitat removed, as Easter Vigil services have become increasingly rare in Lutheran churches over the years.

The Tune

Clearly, CHRIST IST ERSTANDEN and CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN share the same musical source material, the Gregorian chant associated with the Victimae Paschali, which I linked to in last week’s post. Unlike CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN, the verses of CHRIST IST ERSTANDEN are not identical, particularly the final verse. This is similar to the Gregorian chant, and in many ways CHRIST IST ERSTANDEN can be seen as a evolutionary step between the Gregorian melody and Luther’s creation.

The discussion on last week’s post regarding the usage of Dorian mode also applies here. The beginning of the third verse is particularly dramatic.

The tune was well-known in the Early Modern Period, being the leading musical content for the Easter Vigil, which was not at that time the apparently optional celebration that many consider it today. Indeed, the setting appearing in Lutheran Service Book comes from the late Renaissance/early Baroque composer Hans Leo Hassler. It was set by many of the great composers from the Renaissance period onwards, including:

Choral:

A setting in Michael Praetorius’s Musae Sionae
These three settings by Ludwig Senfl, Arnoldus von Bruck, and Thomas Stoltzer, respectively
A setting for 11 voices and instruments by Heinrich Schütz, SWV 470
A setting for seven-part choir by Max Reger
The final movement of Bach’s cantata Erfreuet euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66
This solo cantata by Johann Pachelbel

Organ:

BWV 627 from Das Orgelbuchlein by J.S. Bach
A setting by Healey Willan
This fugue by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
This short hymn prelude from Max Reger
The “Ricercar pro Festis Pachalibus super Initium Cantilenae” by Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer

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