O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

The hymn is based on a long medieval Latin poem, Salve mundi salutare,^[1] with stanzas addressing the various parts of Christ's body hanging on the Cross. The last part of the poem, from which the hymn is taken, is addressed to Christ's head, and begins "Salve caput cruentatum". The poem is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153), but is now attributed to the medieval poet Arnulf of Leuven (died 1250). A selection of stanzas from the seven cantos were used for the text of Dieterich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri addressing the various members of the crucified body

 

The poem was translated into German by the Lutheran hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676). He reworked the Latin version to suggest a more personal contemplation of the events of Christ's death on the cross.^[2] It first appeared in Johann Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1656. Although Gerhardt translated the whole poem, it is the closing section which has become best known, and is sung as a hymn in its own right. The German hymn begins with "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden".

The hymn was first translated into English in 1752 by John Gambold (1711–1771), an Anglican vicar in Oxfordshire. His translation begins, "O Head so full of bruises". In 1830 a new translation of the hymn was made by an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddel Alexander (1804–1859). Alexander's translation, beginning "O sacred head, now wounded", became one of the most widely used in 19th and 20th century hymnals.

Another English translation, based on the German, was made in 1861 by Sir Henry Williams Baker. Published in Hymns Ancient and Modern, it begins, "O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn".

Catherine Winkworth also translated the text and published it in her collection of German hymns, Lyra Germanica, giving it the title Ah wounded Head! Must Thou.^[3]

In 1899 the English poet Robert Bridges (1844–1930) made a fresh translation from the original Latin, beginning "O sacred Head, sore wounded, defiled and put to scorn". This is the version used in the 1940 Hymnal (Episcopal), the 1982 Hymnal (Episcopal; stanzas 1–3 and 5), and the New English Hymnal (1986) and several other late 20th-century hymn books.

The English Hymnal (1906) has a translation attributed to "Y.H.", referring to Bridges' translations for the Yattendon Hymnal, of which he was the editor.

Karen Lynn Davidson (born 1943) wrote another English translation, titled "O savior, thou who wearest a crown", which is published in Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[4]

The melody as it appears in movement 54 of the St Matthew Passion by Bach:

 

 

The music for the German and English versions of the hymn is by Hans Leo Hassler, written around 1600 for a secular love song, "Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret [de]", which first appeared in print in the 1601 Lustgarten Neuer Teutscher Gesäng. The tune was appropriated and rhythmically simplified for Gerhardt's German hymn in 1656 by Johann Crüger. Johann Sebastian Bach arranged the melody and used five stanzas of the hymn in four different settings in his St Matthew Passion. He also used the hymn's text and melody in the second movement of the cantata Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159.^[5] Bach used the melody on different words in his Christmas Oratorio, in the first part (no. 5). Bach also craftily employed the melody as a counterpoint in half-time in the opening aria of the cantata Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161, and set it for four parts to close that cantata. Franz Liszt included an arrangement of this hymn in the sixth station, Saint Veronica, of his Via crucis (Stations of the Cross), S. 504a. The Danish composer Rued Langgaard composed a set of variations for string quartet on this tune. It is also employed in the final chorus of "Sinfonia Sacra", the Ninth Symphony of the English composer Edmund Rubbra. Mauricio Kagel quoted the hymn at the end of his oratorio Sankt-Bach-Passion telling Bach's life, composed for the tricentenary of Bach's birth in 1985.

Other hymns have also been written to the tune. These include:

• "We come as guests invited" by Timothy Dudley-Smith^[6][7]

The tune has also been used for secular texts and songs, including:

• "Because All Men Are Brothers", a protest song written in 1947 by Tom Glazer
• "American Tune" by Paul Simon
• "Stop Error" by John K. Samson

 

The text by Gerhardt consists of 10 verses, of which the first and final one are transcribed below,^[2] with the same verses in the 1830 version by J. W. Alexander.

• Hymns for the Living Church. Carol Stream, Illinois: Hope Publishing. 1974. p. 136. ISBN 0-916642-01-1.
• The Book of Hymns. New York: Testament Books. 1989. ISBN 0-517-16241-5.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.

• "Chorale Melody: Befiehl du deine Wege". www.bach-cantatas.com. - Additional information about Hassler's melody
• "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" on YouTube, from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, sung at the Brixen Cathedral by the Tölzer Knabenchor and Hofkapelle München [de], conducted by Christian Fliegner [de]