Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504180017
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This isn't surprising when we consider that Christianity grew from the ``Easter event,'' the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Songs celebrating that event date back as early as 300 A.D.
There also is a close link in many Easter hymns with the Jewish Passover, from which many consider that Jesus took his ``last supper,'' with its institution of the Communion service.
Because some hymns are so old, they have undergone several changes, and the author is sometimes obscure. Many hymns originally written in Latin from 300 to 1500 A.D. were translated and revised by such later composers as Charles Wesley in the 18th century and an English Victorian clergyman, John M. Neale.
The ``Panorama of Christian Hymnody,'' (1979) by Dr. Erik Routley of Westminster Choir College, and ``Popular Hymns and Their Writers,'' by Norman Mable, tell us of these familiar hymns of Christ's death and resurrection:
ALL GLORY, LAUD AND HONOR, a Palm Sunday classic, was composed by Bishop Theodulph of Orleans, a friend of the ninth century French emperor Charlemagne. On the emperor's death, the bishop was imprisoned for political reasons.
In 821, as a Palm Sunday church procession led by a king passed the prison, a man's voice was heard to sing this triumphal song. Impressed by its beauty, the king released the prisoner, who died soon thereafter.
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY was composed by Cecil Frances Alexander, a Northern Irish woman who wrote children's hymns in the mid-19th century to help her godsons better understand the Apostles' Creed.
The ``green hill'' is near Londonderry and reminded the composer of Jesus' crucifixion on Calvary, though no such hill is suggested by the Bible. The words tell the meaning of Christ's passion in terms a child can understand.
IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST I GLORY is inscribed on the tombstone in England of Sir John Bowring, who died in 1872. He was a Unitarian with an evangelical Christian inclination who spent most of his life as a successful businessman, world traveler and member of Parliament. This is one of a few of his hymns that is sung during Holy Week.
WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS is by the 18th century English hymn writer Isaac Watts. He composed more than 600 sacred songs, starting in childhood. Taken from Galatians 6:14, its final verse has spiritually thrilled countless believers with its affirmation of ``love so amazing, so divine .. demands my all.''
The words have also caused laughs when sung just before taking up a collection.
O SACRED HEAD SORE WOUNDED might have been composed in Latin by the 11th century French monk, Bernard of Clairveaux, but generally Paulus Gerhardt, a German who survived the bitter Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, gets the credit. Notable J.S. Bach harmonized this hymn from a mournful German love song. The final English translation came from James Waddell Alexander, a Presbyterian minister born in Hopewell in 1804.
CHRIST JESUS LAY IN DEATH'S STRONG BANDS is one of the first hymns composed by Protestant reformer Martin Luther, in 1524. Luther gets credit for writing the first hymns intended to be sung by a congregation rather than by Roman Catholic monks who had been writing lyrics in Latin to enhance their prayers for hundreds of years. Luther's tunes were a combination of love songs of aristocrats and the ``plainsong'' of monasteries where he began his career.
COME YE FAITHFUL, RAISE THE STRAIN, a Neale translation of Victorian England, originated in the Eastern Orthodox Church about 700 A.D. Its author, John of Damascus, skillfully combined the thoughts of the Passover, the coming of spring and Christ bursting his prison with the continuing resurrection of the spirit of the believer.
JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN TODAY, also known as ``Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,'' is probably the most universally sung of this collection. It is one of more than 6,000 written by Charles Wesley, younger brother of the founder of Methodism in 18th century England. A contemporary of Watts, this Wesley brother was slightly less evangelical than Watts, and being in a liturgical rather than a dissenter church, composed for seasons of the church year. Wesley, it seems, translated and revised this hymn from an old Latin text. Many stories are told about people affected by it.
WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD? is one of the few black American spirituals relating to Easter. Spirituals, sung for centuries by American slaves, were affected by the revivalism of the 1820s. By the mid-20th century other Christians began to sing these hymns as a gesture of solidarity. Their authors are unknown.
ALLELUIA, GIVE THANKS TO THE LIVING LORD comes out of the charismatic renewal tradition of 30 years ago and is now popular among many Christian groups. Like many newer hymns, its words and music were written by Donald Fishel, born in 1950, with Betty Pulkingham the arranger.
by CNB