Classical work

O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden

Music written by: Hans Leo Hassler
Lyrics written by: Paul Gerhardt
Language: German
Comments: "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" is a Christian Passion hymn based on a Latin text written during the Middle Ages, "Salve Caput Cruentatum", the last of seven poems written by Arnulf de Louvain (or Arnulfus Lovaniensis) (+/-1200-1250) for the cycle "Salve Mundi Salutare", each poem a meditation on one of the wounds of the crucified Christ.
Around 1653 Paul Gerhardt wrote a German version which is known by its incipit "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden".
This German translation was first published in the 1656 edition of Johann Crügers Praxis Pietatis Melica. 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", 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 the same Johann Crüger.
Johann Sebastian Bach arranged the melody and used five stanzas of the hymn in his Matthäus-Passion (St Matthew Passion).
Published by: COPYRIGHT CONTROL SHARES GEMA
UNIVERSAL MUSIC BRENTWOOD BENSON PUBLISHING GEMA
Licensing: Request a synchronization license

The originals are not known to the SecondHandSongs editors. If you have more information, contact us.