This is a c17 translation by Walter Kirkham Blount of Victimae paschali laudes, attributed to Wipo of Burgundy c11 and set here to LASST UNS ERFREUEN, so you know the tune. It is an Easter hymn in Catholic Worship Book I.
Am I allowed to say the text rambles a bit – maybe it worked better in Latin.
Breviary Hymns has useful background. The sheet music of the tune is at Hymnary.
Gio will be upset, as the editors have got rid of the archiac language and rearranged some lines to fit that. They also replaced “napkin” with “shroud”, presumably to accomodate changes in language.
- Bring, all you dear-bought nations,
bring your richest praises to the king,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
That spotless Lamb, who more than due,
paid for his sheep, and those sheep you,
Alleluia.- The guiltless Son, who bought your peace,
and made his Father’s anger cease,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Then, life and death together fought,
each to a strange extreme were brought.
Alleluia.- Life died, but soon revived again,
and even death by it was slain.
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Say, happy Magdalen, oh say,
what did you see there by the way?
Alleluia.- ‘I saw the tomb of my dear lord,
I saw himself and him adored,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
I saw the shroud and saw the sheet,
that bound his head and wrapt his feet.’
Alleluia.- ‘I heard the angels witness bear,
Jesus is ris’n; he is not here;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Go, tell his followers they shall see,
your hope and theirs in Galilee.’
Alleluia.- We, Lord, with faithful hearts and voice,
on this your rising day rejoice.
Alleluia, Alleluia,
O you, whose power o’ercame the grave,
by grace and love, us sinners save,
Alleluia.
Actually this version is quite pleasant – I couldn’t tell what changed.
My peeve is when they do a quick replacement of words without consideration of the rhyme or meter, which makes it much more unpleasant to sing. Some examples are versions of Godhead Here in Hiding and Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.
The sequences always have a lot of verses – and they have to be carefully selected to not ruin the story. Some Catholic hymns are known to have hundreds of verses.
Whenever we sung this tune, the congregation all did the Mr. Bean thing and went all out for the alleluias.
I agree that sometimes the changed words can ruin the rhyme and meter – the best example is changing “Him” to “God” in A Trusting Psalm by Kevin Bates, particularly when the last line of each verse is changed to “So let us place our trust in God” – it just sounds jarring.
I also agree that the Sequences can be tricky – I edited the words slightly for the Pentecost Sequence (which we sang in full) and also for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Sequence (which we said together, just using the short-form which was three verses).
I think about that Mr Bean episode every time I hear this tune!