In honor of Easter, I am posting my version of "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," which is, in my opinion, the most beautiful hymn ever written about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The lyrics are derived from the final verse of a Latin poem written before the year 1250 by Medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain and translated to English in 1830 by an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddel Alexander. The music is by Hans Leo Hassler, written around 1600. For the intro and bridge, I used a portion of Bach's "Air for G String," which was composed sometime around 1717. Although I didn't know it at the time I recorded this song, Bach himself was a big fan of Hassler's original melody and used it in several of his own works.
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