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Ask people to name a Christmas carol,<\/a> and you can expect to be bombarded with answers \u2013 even those who have rarely stepped in a church tend to be able come up with a few. But then ask the same question about Easter, and the room goes silent. <\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the day\u2019s importance in the Christian calendar, Easter hymns are comparatively both few in number and in familiarity. Here, then, are five that are well worth getting to know\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> This is possibly the best known and best loved Easter hymn, not least because of its exuberant \u2018Alleluya!\u2019 at the end of each line. The words are the handiwork of the 18th-century Methodist leader Charles Wesley, though he did not, in fact include those \u2018Alleluyas\u2019 \u2013 these were added anonymously at the beginning of the 19th century. Wesley\u2019s hymn, which is traditionally sung in procession, was strongly influenced by the very similar \u2018Jesus Christ is risen today\u2019, which was first published in the Lyra Davidica<\/em> in 1708, along with the tune that both hymns are sung to today. It is thought that the addition of the \u2018Alleluyas\u2019 to Wesley\u2019s words was to make them fit said tune.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Intriguingly, a hymnbook published in 1754 sets Wesley\u2019s \u2018Christ the Lord is Risen Today\u2019 (above) to the tune of \u2018See, the Conquering Hero comes\u2019 from Handel\u2019s 1746 oratorio Judas Maccabaeus<\/em>. Today, that very same tune is still regularly sung at Easter, but instead to the words \u2018Thine be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son\u2019. These were written in 1884 by the Swiss minister Edmond Louis Budry and translated into English by Richard Birch Hoyle in 1923. Handel\u2019s melody, incidentally, is not entirely without controversy, as it was written to celebrate the victory of the Duke of Cumberland\u2019s Government forces over the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden \u2013 an event of notorious butchery and infamy.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Not all Easter hymns are in an upbeat major key. \u2018Now the green blade riseth\u2019, in contrast, is sung to the to tune to the old French Christmas hymn \u2018No\u00ebl Nouvelet\u2019, which is not just in a minor key but sounds distinctly gloomy too. \u2018No\u00ebl Nouvelet\u2019 was adapted for Easter purposes in the early 20th century by the English deacon and theologian John Macleod Campbell Crum, whose new words focus on the comparison between the Easter story and the growth of nature in spring.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You won\u2019t find many hymns older than this \u2013 the original words are by the Greek poet St John of Damascus, who lived from c675-c750. The familiar English translation, meanwhile, is by the theologian John M Neale, who plied his trade in the mid-19th century. Neale\u2019s text can be set to a number of melodies, but the most popular \u2013 and by far the jolliest \u2013 is a hymn tune called \u2018Ellacombe\u2019. Despite its English name (possibly from the village in Devon) \u2018Ellacombe\u2019 was first found in a hymnal published for the Duke of W\u00fcrtemburg in 1784. Piling in together in unison for the first line is one of the great joys of Easter singing.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The author of the words to this simple but spirit-lifting hymn may well be familiar to some. Christopher Smart (1722-1771) was an eminent poet and journalist whose \u2018religious mania\u2019 led to him being incarcerated in an asylum for a number of years, during which time he wrote his quirky poem Jubilate Agno<\/em>, famously set to music by Benjamin Britten in his anthem Rejoice in the Lamb<\/em> a couple of centuries later. As with so many hymns, \u2018Awake arise! Lift up your voice\u2019 can be sung to various different tunes. Perhaps the best known of these is \u2018St Fulbert\u2019, which also often accompanies the words of \u2018Ye choirs of New Jerusalem\u2019 and is the work of HJ Gauntlett, more famous for writing the melody of \u2018Once in Royal David\u2019s City\u2019.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Jeremy Pound Published: Wednesday, 02 March 2022 at 12:00 am Ask people to name a Christmas carol, and you can expect to be bombarded with answers \u2013 even those who have rarely stepped in a church tend to be able come up with a few. But then ask the same question about Easter, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":12532,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-scaled.jpg",2560,1721,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-300x202.jpg",300,202,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-768x516.jpg",768,516,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-1024x688.jpg",800,538,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-1536x1033.jpg",1536,1033,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/our-top-five-easter-hymns-2048x1377.jpg",2048,1377,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jeremy Pound Published: Wednesday, 02 March 2022 at 12:00 am Ask people to name a Christmas carol, and you can expect to be bombarded with answers \u2013 even those who have rarely stepped in a church tend to be able come up with a few. But then ask the same question about Easter, and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/12531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Best Easter hymns<\/h2>\n
Christ the Lord is risen today<\/h3>\n
Thine be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son<\/h3>\n
Now the green blade riseth<\/h3>\n
The day of resurrection<\/h3>\n
Awake, arise! Lift up your voice<\/h3>\n
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