"Christ the Lord Is Risen Again!" (German: "Christus ist erstanden") is a German Christian hymn written by Michael Weisse in 1531 based on an earlier Bohemian hymn of the same name. It was translated into English in 1858 by Catherine Winkworth.
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History
Weisse based "Christus ist erstanden" upon an earlier hymn of the same name which was studied by Martin Luther. The hymn was based on a Latin sequence from 1100 called "Victimae Paschali laudes" and was initially a Bohemian language hymn of the Church of Bohemia. The hymn was first published in print in 1531 by Weisse in his German language Ein Neugesängbuchlein hymnal in the Kingdom of Bohemia after translating it from Bohemian. In 1858, Winkworth translated "Christus ist erstanden" into English, initially giving it the English title of "Song of Triumph". She first published "Christ the Lord Is Risen Again" into her Lyra Germanica, attributing the hymn to the "Bohemian Brethren". Winkworth's approach in translating the hymn was to try and recreate the verses rather than making a direct translation of them due to German fusional language meaning that some words in the original had to be removed in translation as they did not fit into the English translation. The hymn is often used as a hymn for Easter Sunday which commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus.
Music
The hymn was initially performed to the melody of the original Latin "Victimae Pashali laudes". However, since then, the hymn has been performed in other musical compositions including "Llanfair" and "Wirtemburg". In 1971, John Rutter also composed his own musical setting for "Christ the Lord Is Risen Again!"