The History of “Alleluia! Alleluia!”

“Alleluia! Alleluia!” is a song written by Christopher Wordsworth, the nephew of the great lake poet named William Wordsworth. The song was first published in 1862 on the 81st page in his The Holy Year, a book containing hymns written in every phase of every season of the Church’s year. The original copy consists of 5 stanzas with four double lines. The song was considered one of Cristopher’s best-written hymns.

Christopher Wordsworth was an English Bishop in the Anglican Church and “man of letters,” born in London on October 30, 1807. He was best known for his edition of the Greek New Statement and the Old Testament, he views hymns as the best way of preserving the doctrines of the Christian Church. He was a scholar and an athlete when he studied at Winchester. He enrolled at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1826 where he won several College and University prizes, including the First Chancellor’s Medal for classical studies. He graduated as Senior Classic in the Classical Tripos and 14th Senior Optime in the Mathematical. He was elected Fellow of Trinity in the same year. He was appointed as the Public Orator for the University in 1836 and later elected as the Headmaster of Harrow School. He married Susan Hatley Freere in 1838. Christopher became the Canonry at Westminster in 1850; a Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge in 1848 to 1849; and a Vicar of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire in 1850. Afterward, he became a parish priest that lasted for nineteen years and promoted as Bishop of Lincoln in 1869. He died on March 20, 1885.

“Alleluia! Alleluia!” which means "Praise the Lord," is one of the most popular Eastern Hymns ever written. Its message suits the occasion of Easter well that most choirs used this as a remembrance of the season. This chant is commonly used before the proclamation of the Gospel as a way of praising the Lord.

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