099.ChristTheLordIsRisenToday

Please turn to number 99 and join with the clarinets in “Christ, the Lord, is Risen Today”.

Number: 99
First Line: Christ, the Lord, is Risen Today
Name: LLANFAIR.
Meter: 7 7, 7 7. With Alleluias.
Tempo: Broadly, with dignity
Music: Robert Williams, cir. 1781-1821
Text: Latin Sequence, Victimae Paschali
Tr. Jane Eliza Leeson, 1807-82

Clarinet Arrangement:099-ChristTheLordIsRisenToday

Unsurprisingly, this song is often confused with number 92, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today“.

However similar the words are, the tunes are quite different. This one is based on a Welsh Folk Tune.

“Llanfair is a popular traditional Welsh hymn tune, often sung to the words “Hail the day that sees him rise” or “Gwyn a gwridog, hawddgar iawn”.

“Welsh singer Robert Williams (b. Mynydd Ithel, Anglesey, Wales, 1781; d. Mynydd Ithel, 1821), whose manuscript, dated July 14, 1817, included the tune LLANFAIR, which is usually attributed to him. Williams lived on the island of Anglesey. A basket weaver with great innate musical ability, Williams, who was blind, could write out a tune after hearing it just once. He sang hymns at public occasions and was a composer of hymn tunes.”

While not as tricky as 98b, there are some fairly challenging intervals to jump in this hymn, especially for the bass clarinet parts.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal