THE TUNE.
The music set to Kipling's hymn is Stainer's “Magdalen”—(not his “Magdalina,” which is a common-metre tune)—and wonderfully fits the 404 / 352 words and enhances their dignity. It is a grave and earnest melody in D flat, with two bars in unison at “Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,” making the utterance of the prayer a deep and powerful finale.
John Stainer, Doctor of Music, born June 6, 1840, was nine years the chorister of St. Paul's, London, and afterwards organist to the University of Oxford. He is a member of the various musical societies of the Kingdom, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. His talent for sacred music is rare and versatile, and he seems to have consecrated himself as a musician and composer to the service of the church.
Every civilized nation has its patriotic hymns. In fact what makes a nation a nation is largely the unifying influences of its common song. Even the homeless Hebrew nation is kept together by its patriotic Psalms. The ethnic melodies would fill a volume with their story. The few presented in this chapter represent their range of quality and character—defiant as the Marseillaise, thrilling as “Scots' wha hae,” joyful as “The Star-spangled Banner,” breezy and bold as the “Ranz de Vaches,” or sweet as the “Switzers' Song of Home.”