Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV 4 (Bach) - Cantate Domino

“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.” 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 melody as set by Luther seems to have strong correlations with parts of the Eucharistic sequence for Easter, Victimae paschali laudes, 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. A new version was published in the Erfurt Enchiridion of 1524 and adapted the same years by Johann Walter in his choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. This was subjected to many minor alterations in later hymnbooks, but the melodic shape remained the same in later additions, which include 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.

Bruhns, Böhm, Scheidt, Scheidemann, Pachelbel, Kuhnau and Telemann are among the composers who included the hymn in their work. As one of the principal Lutheran hymns for Easter, it appears in several vocal and organ compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach: