Victimae paschali laudes

Victimae paschali laudes is a sequence prescribed for the Roman Catholic Mass and liturgical Protestant Eucharists of Easter Sunday. It is usually attributed to the 11th century Wipo of Burgundy, chaplain to the German Emperor Conrad II, but has also been attributed to Notker Balbulus, Robert II of France, and Adam of St. Victor.

Victimae Paschali Laudes is one of only four medieval sequences that were preserved in the Missale Romanum published in 1570 after the Council of Trent (1545-63). The three others were the "Veni Sancte Spiritus" for the feast of Pentecost, "Lauda Sion" for Corpus Christi, and the "Dies Irae" for the Requiem Mass (a fifth sequence, the "Stabat Mater" for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was added to the missal by Pope Benedict XIII in 1727[1]). Before Trent, many other feasts also had their own sequences,[2] and some 16 different sequences for Easter were in use.[3]

Victimae Paschali Laudes is one of the few sequences that are still in liturgical use today. Its text was set to different music by many Renaissance and Baroque composers, including Busnois, Josquin, Lassus, Willaert, Hans Buchner, Palestrina, Byrd, Perosi, and Fernando de las Infantas. Chorales derived from Victimae Paschali Laudes include "Christ ist erstanden" (12th century) and Martin Luther's "Christ lag in Todes Banden". A 2014 TTBB setting of Victimae Paschali Laudes by contemporary composer Michael Engelhardt employs elements of electronica and contemporary harmonies.

The section beginning "Credendum est," with its pejorative reference to the Jews, was deleted in the 1570 missal, which also replaced "praecedet suos (his own)" with "praecedet vos (you)", and added "Amen" and "Alleluia" to the end.

Text

Jane E. Leeson translation

This translation is commonly sung to either VICTIMAE PASCHALI or ST GEORGES, WINDSOR.[4][5]

Christ the Lord is risen today;
Christians, haste your vows to pay;
Offer ye your praises meet
At the Paschal Victim’s feet.
For the sheep the Lamb hath bled,
Sinless in the sinner’s stead;
“Christ is risen,” today we cry;
Now He lives no more to die.

Christ, the victim undefiled,
Man to God hath reconciled;
Whilst in strange and awful strife
Met together Death and Life:
Christians, on this happy day
Haste with joy your vows to pay;
“Christ is risen,” today we cry;
Now He lives no more to die.

Christ, who once for sinners bled,
Now the first born from the dead,
Throned in endless might and power,
Lives and reigns forevermore.
Hail, eternal Hope on high!
Hail, Thou King of victory!
Hail, Thou Prince of life adored!
Help and save us, gracious Lord.

Walter Blount translation

This translation is commonly sung (with alleluias) to LASST UNS ERFREUEN.[6]

Bring, all ye dear-bought nations, bring
your richest praises to the king,
That spotless Lamb, who more than due,
paid for his sheep, and those sheep you,

The guiltless Son, who bought your peace,
and made his father’s anger cease,
Then, life and death together fought,
each to a strange extreme were brought.

Life died, but soon revived again,
and even death by it was slain.
Say, happy Magdalen, oh say,
what didst thou see there by the way?

‘I saw the tomb of my dear lord,
I saw himself and him adored,
I saw the napkin and the sheet,
that bound his head and wrapped his feet.’

‘I heard the angels witness bear,
Jesus is ris’n; he is not here;
Go, tell his followers they shall see,
thine and their hope in Galilee.’

We, Lord, with faithful hearts and voice,
on this thy rising day rejoice.
O thou, who power o’came the grave,
by grace and love us sinners save.

Media

Easter performance with choir and organ
Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris

Νotes

  1. ↑ Heartz, Daniel (1995). Haydn, Mozart and the Viennese School: 1740-1780. W.W. Norton & Co. p. 305. ISBN 0-393-03712-6. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  2. ↑ David Hiley, Western Plainchant : A Handbook (OUP, 1993), II.22, pp.172-195
  3. ↑ Joseph Kehrein, Lateinische Sequenzen des Mittelalters (Mainz 1873) pp78-90
  4. ↑ http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/h/r/christtl.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.hymnary.org/text/christ_the_lord_is_risen_today_christian
  6. ↑ http://kpshaw.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/p209.html
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