Five Easter Trios

The five Easter hymns in this collection are presented in entirely new settings for trio. Each setting is given with a widely-known hymn title. In some cases, the tune is almost universally associated with that title, but, in other cases, more than one text has been connected with the hymn tune. Because of such instances, some of these settings can also be readily used in church at times other than Easter.

1. “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” is based on the tune known as “Easter Hymn.” The tune first appeared in a London collection, “Lyra Davidica” in 1708. The text referenced here is based on a 14th-century Latin hymn, but some hymnals use, instead, the Charles Wesley text, “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today, Alleluia.” The tune is also known with the words, “Lord Remove The Veil Away.”

2. The hymn “Come, Ye Faithful, Raise The Strain,” is widely associated with two different tunes. Further, the melody presented here is known by two different names, “Gaudeamus Pariter,” attributed to early 16th-century composer Johann Horn, or “Ave Virgo Virginum” from a Bohemian Brethren hymnal of 1544. This tune, in some hymnals, is sung to the text, “When the King Shall Come Again,” or “Brothers, Joining Hand To Hand.”

3. The hymn “Thine Is The Glory” is sung to the tune “Judas Maccabeus,” adapted from G.F. Handel’s oratorio of the same name.

4. The tune “Victory,” adapted from the music of Palestrina, is widely known as music accompanying the hymn, “The Strife Is O’er, The Battle Done.”

5. “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today, Alleluia,” is given to the tune “Llanfair” in many hymnals. Some hymnals, however, assign this text to the tune “Easter Hymn,” which is the melody of number 1 in the present collection! “Llanfair” is also associated with the text “Praise The Lord, God’s Glories Show” and with “Let The Whole Creation Cry” and with another Charles Wesley hymn, “Hail The Day That Sees Him Rise.”