"This joyful Eastertide" is an 1894 Easter carol. The words are by George Ratcliffe Woodward, the tune is from the Netherlands (1624), and the 1894 harmonisation is by Charles Wood.

Publication

The original carol was published in 1894 in ''Carols for Easter and Ascensiontide'', a publication put together by Woodward and Wood. They published it subsequently in 1902 in ''The Cowley Carol Book'' (second edition) and again in the ''Cambridge Carol Book'' of 1910. The music has been republished many times, often under choral arrangements. It appears in the '' Carols for Choirs'' collection under Wood's original arrangement. Some of the arrangements published include that of William Llewellyn published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, and that of

Philip Ledger Sir Philip Stevens Ledger, CBE, FRSE (12 December 1937 – 18 November 2012) was an English classical musician, choirmaster and academic, best remembered as Director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge in 1974–1982 and of the Royal Scot ...

. More recently, Oxford University Press published the text set to a completely new tune composed by Matthew Owens in 2015 in the form of a choral anthem. A number of alternative versions exist, including

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

's "How great the Harvest is"; "This Joyful Eastertide, What need is there for grieving?" and "How rich, at Eastertide", both by

Fred Pratt Green The Reverend Fred Pratt Green MBE (2 September 1903 – 22 October 2000) was a British Methodist minister and hymnodist. Born in Roby, Lancashire, England, he began his ministry in the Filey circuit. He was ordained as a Methodist minister ...

; and in German, "Der schöne Ostertag" ( Jurgen Henkys, 1983) and "Die frohe Osterzeit" (

Friedrich Hoffmann Friedrich Hoffmann or Hofmann (19 February 1660 – 12 November 1742) was a German physician and chemist. He is also sometimes known in English as Frederick Hoffmann. Life His family had been connected with medicine for 200 years before him. Bo ...

, 1986).

Tune

Woodward and Wood published "This joyful Eastertide" set to , a Dutch tune published in 1624 in Dirk Rafaelsz Camphuysen's collection of 'Stichtelycke Rymen' where it was attached to the hymn "De liefde Voortgebracht", a scripture paraphrase of

1 Corinthians 13 1 Corinthians 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. This chapter covers the subject of Love. In the orig ...

. It also appears as a hymn tune in Joachim Oudaen's 1685 psalter, "David's Psalmen" as a setting for "Hoe groot de vruchten zijn", a paraphrase of

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. The first eleven verses contain the earliest account o ...

:12-23. In both instances the ascending repeats of the final line of the refrain effectively support the respective central messages of the paraphrased

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

verses. Joseph Butler, an

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

municipal musician of English origin, published a number of variations for the keyboard based on the same tune.

Text

Many versions exist of the three original verses; but in its original form as written by George Ratcliffe Woodward and published in 1894, it is as follows: Two additional verses were penned by Basilian Father M. Owen Lee:

References

External links

* * arr. Sir

, sung by the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Col ...

, 2019 * arr. Wood, sung by

The Gesualdo Six The Gesualdo Six are a British vocal consort, directed by Owain Park. The group was founded in Cambridge in 2014 for a performance of the Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday by Carlo Gesualdo, in the chapel of Trinity College. The Gesual ...

, 2021 {{Hymns and songs for Easter Easter hymns