Like Jesus Christ is risen today, Thine be the glory is a favourite Easter hymn, which many people will have missed singing in Church on Easter Day. It was originally written in French in 1884 by a Swiss pastor and hymn writer called Edmond Budry. The French words were written to go with the familiar tune Judas Maccabeus. The tune, by Handel, was written for his oratorio Joshua in 1747. It proved to be very popular, so Handel also added it to his 1746 oratorio, Judas Maccabeus.
Our English words are a loose translation of the original French, written by Richard B Hoyle in 1923. The copyright for the English words was held by the World Student Christian Federation in Geneva, which commissioned the translation with Budry's permission. It was published in their hymnal, Cantate Domino in 1924, and according to one source, became in effect the anthem of the WSCF. According to Faith Cook (Our Hymn Writers and their Hymns, Darlington, Evangelical Press, 2005/2015, p 375), it was immediately popular when The Methodist Hymn Book of 1933 first included it.
When I spent nine months living in Vienna in the mid-1980s, I often heard the tune played on the streets of the city in the run up to Christmas. The German Advent song, Tochter Zion, freue dich is set to the same tune. It predates the French hymn by Budry: Friedrich Heinrich Ranke wrote the words and published the song in 1826.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.
Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the Church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting:
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of Life;
life is nought without thee: aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors through thy deathless love;
bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above:
(For comparison, the original French words can be found on Wikipedia here).
There is a rousing Songs of Praise recording here.
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