About Lasst us erfreuen

The tune name owes itself to the original text, "Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr," which roughly translates, "Let us with great gladness..." There is no english equivalent for the rich German in this phrase. Erfreuen - gladness - contains the root word of the English word 'free', and herzlich, heartfelt, is left out of the translations altogether. The first appearance of the tune is in the Jesuit hymnal Ausserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesänge (Cologne, 1623), and the hymn exists with various placements and treatments of the alleluia refrains. The setting we are so familiar with is by Ralph Vaughan Williams and was first published in The English Hymnal (1906) - yet he did not alter the bass from an edition published in 1658!

This descant has been set by the arranger to at least three texts:

Ye watchers and ye holy ones
All creatures of our God and King
Light's glittering morn (Easter)

You may print and use the descants you find here free of charge for church services and concerts; however, be advised these are copyrighted materials and cannot be used for commercial purposes without prior written consent. Scores are in pdf format. The audio mix is exported directly from the Finale scoreand edited in Audacity.

A congregational arrangement for two trumpets, two trombones, horn and timpani is now available, featuring some all-new material, and fully edited and revised treatments of versions that have existed in one form or another since the middle 1990's. It has been initially prepared with the Easter text, 'Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky,' but it can be prepared with any text, and produced in US or A4 format. A link to an audio preview available upon request via email.

All works copyright © David Maurand, except as noted.

(R10.0304)