A Springtime Hymn

The Third Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2020

 Even though we can't gather to sing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we're sharing the great hymns of the Easter season during our weekly Facebook Live broadcasts. Worship with us at Trinity Cathedral Omaha on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. CDT. 
"Welcome, happy morning" is a favorite hymn among many Episcopalians. Its references to springtime, blooming flowers, and "days of lengthening light" draw parallels between earth's seasons - at least in the northern hemisphere - and Christ's resurrection. Hear a recording: Welcome, happy morning!
Vintage Victorian Easter card

The original Latin text dates from the sixth century and is drawn from a 114-line poem by Venantius Fortunatus. A popular hymn in the Middle Ages, it was translated into German in the 14th and 15th centuries. It is mentioned in correspondence between Archbishop Cranmer and King Henry VIII, and it was the first Latin hymn translated into English for church use. The translation we use today was created by John Ellerton in the 19th century.

 The tune, Fortunatus, is named for the author of the text. The music was composed specifically for Ellerton's translation by Sir Arthur S. Sullivan. He published this combination of text and tune in an English hymnal which he edited in 1872. 

 The hymn first appeared in the United States in the Episcopal hymnal of 1892, and it has been included in all subsequent editions. The musical style is distinctly British and holds striking similarities to Sullivan's popular operas of the period - H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado.

The organ arrangement you'll hear today features a brief modulation into a minor key for the fifth stanza:

 Thou, of life the author, death didst undergo,
tread the path of darkness, saving strength to show;
come then, true and faithful, now fulfill thy word,
'tis thine own third morning! rise, O buried Lord.

 The music returns to the joyful key of G major as the refrain proclaims: 
"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say.


Music for the Third Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2020

 Easter Hymns for Organ arranged by Marty Wheeler Burnett

 Welcome, happy morning (Fortunatus)
Christ is alive! let Christians sing (Truro)

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