Easter music: 7 powerful hymns to celebrate Resurrection Sunday

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, April 04, 2021

'Up From the Grave He Arose'

Baptist preacher and educator Robert Lowry of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wrote “Up From the Grave He Arose” in 1874, also going under the names “Low in the Grave He Lay” and “Christ Arose.”

Lowry was also responsible for writing the famous hymns “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” and “Shall We Gather at the River” and served as music editor at the Biglow Publishing Company.

“The centerpiece of the song is the textual and musical contrast between the stanzas and the refrain,” wrote C. Michael Hawn, professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.

“The dirge-like stanzas in block chords with a melody that plods in a step-wise fashion give way to a rhythmic refrain that surges up like a trumpet blast.”