Hymn of the Week: April 18
Easter 3B - April 18, 2021
Hymn 202: “The Lamb’s high banquet called to share”
Why is it that so many of our Easter hymns are in minor keys? Of the 40 hymns in the Easter section of the Hymnal 1982, 11 appear to be in “minor.”
Isn’t Easter supposed to be a joyful season?
The precedent for this is an ancient one that pre-dates the major/minor dichotomy. Ancient plainsong hymns were written in one of eight modes, and music theorists of the time described the qualities of these modes in various ways.
The Easter sequence “Victimae Paschali laudes” (Hymn 183) is in Mode 1, which has been described as a mode of peace and tranquility. Hymns 184, 185, and 186 are derived from this sequence, and all share this mode.
The Latin hymn “Ad cenam Agni provide” appears in the Hymnal 1982 at Hymn 202: “The Lamb’s high banquet called to share.” It may sound “minor” to modern ears, but it is in Mode 8, the Perfectus mode (one of “certitude, stability, affirmation”).
As an Office Hymn at Vespers, this hymn would have regularly sung for the first few centuries of its existence. But a cursory Google search suggests that it is not often sung in the Episcopal Church today.
But if we are, as we so often like to say, an “Easter people,” should we not be singing all the great Easter hymns we can find? I would suggest that “The Lamb’s high banquet” is one.
This hymn freely plays with imagery of the Exodus and the Paschal banquet. This hymn also includes the only appearance of the word “unleavened” in the Hymnal! Based on the Apostle Paul's admonishment in 1 Corinthians 5:8, Neale's original reads “The true oblation offered here, / Our own uleavened bread sincere.”
In his Short Commentary on The Hymnal Noted (1852), John Mason Neale describes how the hymn refers to the catechumens at the Easter Vigil. The catechumens are the ones “in garments white and fair” who are, for the first time, about to receive the Holy Eucharist. But Neale hastens to point out that “since we all have been baptized, we also may use it: and the Church therefore puts it into our mouths.”
You can hear this hymn in a Great Paschal Vespers service held at St. Peter's, Ladue on the Second Sunday of Easter, 2018:
https://youtu.be/hBqih0XcO0U?
If the ancient plainsong tune ‘Ad cenam Agni providi’ is not to your liking, the Long Meter (L.M.) text pairs well with any number of familiar L.M. tunes. Try ‘Rockingham’ and enjoy the layering of Eucharistic associations from Hymn 321. Or, perhaps try ‘Puer nobis,’ already available in the Easter section (Hymn 193).
The Lamb’s high banquet called to share,
arrayed in garments white and fair,
the Red Sea past, we now would sing
to Jesus our triumphant King.
Protected in the Paschal night
from the destroying angel’s might,
in triumph went the ransomed free
from Pharaoh’s cruel tyranny.
Now Christ our Passover is slain,
the Lamb of God without a stain;
his flesh, the true unleavened bread,
is freely offered in our stead.
O all-sufficient Sacrifice,
beneath thee hell defeated lies;
thy captive people are set free,
and endless life restored in thee.
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
from death to endless life restored;
all praise to God the Father be
and Holy Ghost eternally.
Latin 7th-8th cent.; tr. John Mason Neale (1818–1866) and others
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