"Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr" is a hymn tune that originated from Germany in 1623, and which found widespread popularity after The English Hymnal published a 1906 version in strong triple meter with new lyrics. The triumphant melody and repeated "Alleluia" phrases have supported the tune's widespread usage during the Easter season and other festive occasions, especially with the English texts "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" and "All Creatures of Our God and King". The tune's first known appearance was in the 1623 hymnal Auserlesene, Catholische, Geistliche Kirchengesäng during the Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, and the oldest published version that still exists is from 1625. The original 1623 hymnal was edited by Friedrich Spee, an influential Jesuit priest, professor, and activist against witch-hunts, who is often credited as the hymn's composer and original lyricist. The 1906 hymnal was edited by notable composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose arrangement of the hymn has become the standard for English-speaking churches.
Melody
In its original 1623 publication, "Lasst uns erfreuen" consisted of four eight-note text phrases, each immediately followed by a four-note Alleluia phrase, all of which was followed by the final triple-Alleluia refrain. In the earliest surviving copy of the hymn, in a 1625 collection, the hymn was restructured so that before the final refrain the eight-note text phrases occur in two pairs. The 1623 sequence is still common in German-language Catholic hymnals, while the 1625 version is more usual in English-language hymnals. The verse consists of two repeated musical phrases with matching rhythms, one using the upper pitches of the major scale and one using the lower pitches, and likewise for the Alleluia refrain. Schematically, the structure of the original 1623 version can be represented as "vRvR VrVr RRr", and the revised 1625 sequence is "vvRR VVrr RRr", the tune thus achieving a "full and satisfying effect with rare musical economy". \header \score
Hymn texts
Below is the first verse from the original German, alongside a half-rhymed, line-by-line English translation that shares the same 88.88 "long meter": The original hymn still appears in the main German-language Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, with slightly modernized text, and the tune as well in the protestant Evangelisches Gesangbuch with a translation by Karl Budde of Draper's "All Creatures". Especially since the early 1900s, versions of the tune have been used for many denominations, languages, and hymn texts. Some of these alternate texts are particularly notable, including alphabetically:
