Hymn of the Week: May 1, 2022
by Nick Bideler, Acting Organist, Choirmaster, and Music Director
The Episcopal Church of St. Michael & St. George, Clayton
Hymn: VICTORY
Francis Pott (1831-1909) provided his own translation of the original Latin for his Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer (1861). Pott was on the hymnal committee for the first edition of the famous 19th-century landmark British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861); Pott’s translation, with alterations, was included in this hymnal. It has become a staple of Easter hymnody since.
Hymnologist Leonard Ellinwood traces the origins of the hymn to a book of compositions in four voices published in 1695. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), the famous British translator of Latin and Greek hymnody, included the Latin text with his translation in his Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851).
This Latin hymn captures the triumphant joy of the Resurrection and reflects the Christus Victor theology of the event. Christ has redeemed humanity by being a ransom for us through his death, conquering the powers of hell and restoring the link between a fallen humanity and heaven. This redemption is classically envisioned as a great battle between Christ and the powers of death with their legions.
The final stanza draws upon Isaiah 53:5—“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”—and 1 Corinthians 15:55—“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Christ won this battle decisively because he did not succumb ultimately to death. Through his Resurrection he closed the gates of hell and opened the portals of heaven. Our role, according to the original Latin, is to join in the celebration of this cosmic event by rejoicing and singing. Hymnologist Albert Bailey correctly notes that the “joyous music of Palestrina (1525-1594) has helped to carry this hymn to its continuous popularity.” The alleluias that begin the hymn signal the joy that is to follow.
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