"Christ lag in Todes Banden"
Hymn by Martin Luther
"Christ lag ynn todes bande" in Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn of 1524
English	Christ lay in death's bonds
Catalogue	Zahn 7012
Occasion	Easter
Language	German
Melody	by Luther and Johann Walter
Published	1524 (1524)

"Christ lag in Todesbanden" (also "... in Todes Banden"; "Christ lay in death's bonds") is an Easter hymn by Martin Luther. Its melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. Both the text and the melody were based on earlier examples. It was published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. Various composers, including Pachelbel, Bach and Telemann, have used the hymn in their compositions.

In early editions the hymn, in seven stanzas, was indicated as an improved (German: gebessert) version of "Christ ist erstanden".^[1] The hymn is in bar form. The Stollen, that is the repeated first part of the melody, sets two lines of text for each repetition, with the remaining four lines of each stanza set to the remainder of the melody.

The hymn celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus, with particular reference to a struggle between Life and Death. The third verse quotes from 1 Corinthians 15, saying that Christ's Atonement for sin has removed the "sting" of Death. The fifth verse compares the sacrifice with that celebrated by Jews in the Pascal Lamb at Passover. The sacrificial "blood" ("Its blood marks our doors") refers to the marking of the doors before the exodus from Egypt. The final stanza recalls the tradition of baking and eating Easter Bread, with the "old leaven" alluding again to the exodus, in contrast to the "Word of Grace", concluding "Christ would ... alone nourish the soul."

The melody as set by Luther (with help from Walter) seems to have strong correlations with parts of the Eucharistic sequence for Easter, Victimae paschali laudes,^[2] believed to have been written by Wipo of Burgundy in the 11th century. This was transformed, gradually into a "Leise", a devotional German pre-Reformation song with a number of stanzas, but maintaining strong characteristics of plainsong.^[3]

Johann Walter published "Christ lag in Todes Banden" with two variants of the hymn tune in 1524: Zahn No. 7012a, the tenth tune in the choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, is a setting of the hymn with stanzas of eight lines, the last line of each stanza consisting of the word "Halleluja". The other version, Zahn No. 7012b, appearing under the title "Der Lobsanck Christ ist erstanden / Gebessert" in the Erfurt Enchiridion and as ninth item in Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, is a setting of the hymn in seven-line stanzas, that is without the repeated "Halleluja" at the end of every stanza.^[4]

Notwithstanding the fact that the version with eight-line stanzas had a rhythmically imperfect form (German: "rhythmische Gestaltung ist unvolkommen", according to Johannes Zahn), and that Walter only included the version with seven-line stanzas in his later publications, the former version was picked up in the hymnals of Klug (1535, 1543), Schumann (1539) and Babst (1545), and, with some rhythmical adaptations, henceforth became the standard for publications of the tune. Minor alterations of the tune, that is, without modifying its melodic shape, included the addition of passing notes and modification of rhythmic patterns to conform the chorale to emerging styles, and to fit the chorale into a regular time signature. For instance, in the first half of the 18th century, Johann Sebastian Bach based all his settings of the "Christ lag in Todes Banden" hymn (BWV 4, 158/4, 277, 278, 279, 625, 695, 695a and 718) on the eight-line variant of the hymn tune.^[4][5][3][6] The following four-part setting, with the last stanza of the hymn as text, is taken from his Christ lag in Todes Banden chorale cantata:

In 1524 "Christ lag in Todesbanden" was published in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. The 1524 Erfurt Enchiridion presented the melody and text of Luther's hymn on two pages:

In 1545 the hymn appeared as No. 8 in the Babstsche Gesangbuch. In the German-language Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG) it appears in modernised language as EG 101.^[7] It also appears in various translations in English hymnals, the most common one being "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands" by Richard Massie.^[8]

Christ lag in Todesbanden, TWV 31:27

A chorale prelude upon the hymn, by Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann.

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As one of the principal Lutheran hymns for Easter, "Christ lag in Todesbanden" appears in several vocal and organ compositions of the Baroque Era,^[2] for example by

• Nicholas Bruhns^[3]
• Georg Böhm^[3]
• Samuel Scheidt^[3]
• Heinrich Scheidemann^[3]
• Johann Pachelbel:^[9]
  • Chorale prelude Christ lag in Todesbanden, P 58 (=BWV Anh. 171).^[10][11]
  • Christ lag in Todesbanden, P 60, sacred concerto in seven movements for SATB, strings, bassoon and continuo.^[12][13]
• Johann Kuhnau^[3]
• Christoph Graupner, GWV 1128/34 and 1130/21
• Georg Philipp Telemann:^[3]
  • Missa brevis super 'Christ lag in Todesbanden', TWV 9:3^[14][15]
  • Chorale preludes from Fugierende und verändernde Choräle, TWV 31:1–48 [scores]: Christ lag in Todes Banden, TWV 31:27,^[16] and TWV 31:28 (bicinium).^[17]
• Johann Sebastian Bach:^[1]
  • Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, an early chorale cantata for Easter, opens with a sinfonia, followed by seven movements, using each of the original seven verses by Luther, and with the melody as a cantus firmus.
  • The cantata Der Friede sei mit dir, BWV 158, uses the fifth verse of Martin Luther's chorale in a four-part chorale in the fourth and final movement.^[18]
  • "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 277, 278 and 279 are included in Bach's four-part chorale settings.
  • Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 625, is a chorale prelude from the Orgelbüchlein of only 16 bars in length (excluding repeats). The soprano voice follows the hymn virtually unchanged, with the lower parts descending relentlessly in quaver and semiquaver figures.^[2][19]
  • Fantasia super Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 695, is a chorale prelude from the Kirnberger chorale preludes (BWV 690–713), consisting of a two-part fughetta above the chorale melody in the bass ^[20]
  • Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 718, is a chorale prelude, which uses the chorale tune as a cantus firmus through a range of textures, alternating between triplet and semiquaver movement and displaying the Northern influences of organ fantasias by Böhm, Buxtehude and Reincken.^[21]

• Braatz, Thomas; Oron, Aryeh (2011). "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Christ ist erstanden". Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
• Dahn, Luke (2018). "BWV 4.8". www.bach-chorales.com.
• Dürr, Alfred; Kobayashi, Yoshitake, eds. (1998). Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis: Kleine Ausgabe – Nach der von Wolfgang Schmieder vorgelegten 2. Ausgabe [Bach Works Catalogue: Small Edition – After Wolfgang Schmieder's 2nd edition] (in German). Kirsten Beißwenger (collaborator). (BWV^2a ed.). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 9783765102493. Preface in English and German.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Marti, Andreas (2005). Gerhard Hahn; Jürgen Henkys (eds.). "101 – Christ lag in Todesbanden". Liederkunde zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch (in German) (12). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 56–62. ISBN 3-525-50335-0.
• Renwick, William (1995), Analyzing Fugue: A Schenkerian Approach, Pendragon Press, pp. 4–6, ISBN 0945193521
• Terry, Charles Sanford (1921), Bach's Chorals, vol. III, Cambridge, The University Press
• Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-89115-9
• Zahn, Johannes (1891). Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder (in German). Vol. IV. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christ lag in Todesbanden.

•  German Wikisource has original text related to this article: Christ lag yn todes banden
• "Christ lag in Todesbanden" at the Choral Public Domain Library
• Christ lag in Todesbanden by Luther-Gesellschaft e.V.
• J.S. Bach: Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 277 on YouTube (performed by Augsburger Domsingknaben [de] conducted by Reinhard Kammler [de])
• "Christ Jesus lay in Death's strong bands" (1st verse with introduction) sung by the choir of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney