Good Friday - O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Do you find yourself avoiding songs in minor keys as you grow older? Minor intervals make up the singsong chants of childhood. Little children seem to intuitively realize that “sad” music can express emotions that we already have in us. When we lean into the internal knowledge of our deaths that is always with us, we often feel better, more at peace.

This song focuses on the suffering of Jesus, then ends with the words “Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for Thee!” Sometimes younger people have the courage to proclaim those words better than their elders who may have grown cynical. Maybe us older folks need to sit with words like these awhile longer.

The version of O Sacred Head, Now Wounded linked above is performed Fernando Ortega. The Latin text is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century abbot from Burgundy. The music was composed by Hans Hassler in the early 17th century and harmonized by J.S. Bach in the 18th.

If you want more Bach, some folks use Good Friday as a time to listen to all of his St. Matthew’s Passion.  If you want to watch and hear a German version with English subtitles, check Here.

If you want to just listen but have access to an English translation, go Here.