Ride on! Ride on in majesty!

with
DIR DIR JEHOVAH
WESTMINSTER NEW
ST. DROSTANE
KING’S MAJESTY

I. Text: Background

In 1820, Reginald Heber (1783–1826), vicar of Hodnet, Shropshire, England, made an earnest attempt at developing a collection of hymns intended to be used in accordance with the cycle of the liturgical church year. By that time, he had already written a few over the last decade, but in order to bring his vision to fruition, he reached out to friends and colleagues for submissions, including Walter Scott (1771–1832) and Robert Southey (1774–1843). On December 5, 1820, he wrote to his friend Henry Milman (1791–1868), vicar of St. Mary’s, Reading, Berkshire, who was known for being a skilled poet and was in consideration for being made professor of poetry at Oxford:

I have been for some years back employing a part of my leisure, of which, indeed, I have no great quantity, in making a collection of hymns, adapted to the different Sundays and Saints’ days in the year, and connected, in a greater or less degree, with the subject of the Gospel appointed for each day. Most are, as yet, of my own composition, though I have taken some pains to select the best out of the different popular Hymn-books which have already appeared, and though Scott and Southey have given me some hopes of their powerful aid. My wish is to get them licensed to be used in Churches in the same man­ner as Tate and Brady’s version of the Psalms; and I commu­nicated my plan, with a sample of what I had already done, some time ago, to the Bishop of London, who spoke favourably of those which I sent him, and encouraged me to proceed.

Under these circumstances, am I trespassing too much on your good nature in requesting your assistance and contribution to the collection? I know with what facility you write poetry, and all the world knows with what success you write religious poetry. I really think, if the undertaking prospers, it may be the means of rendering good service to the Church, and to the cause of rational piety, by taking place of the vile trash, vile in sentiment and theology, as well as style, which prevails more or less in all the collections which I have seen; at the same time that experience shows us that the common people require some­thing more obviously appropriate to Christian feelings than the Psalms of David alone, and that the hymns of the dissenters, objectionable as they many of them are, are a powerful engine of popularity, which draws several from the Church who are very well content with her in other respects. I subjoin a spe­cimen of what I have done, that you may understand my plan more perfectly, and be aware of the sort of company in which your verses, if you favour me with any, will appear. I send a list of the Sundays for which I have as yet no appropriate hymns, but I should be happy to admit any composition of yours for such other days as may suit you, for several of which I have more than one; or on miscellaneous subjects, of which last kind I have a good many, which I mean to print in an appendix.

I am glad to hear, from Augustus Hare, that you have some thoughts of standing for the poetry professorship. I need hardly say that I shall sincerely rejoice in your success, both for your own sake and for that of the university; and should you meet with opposition, which I can hardly suppose, you may reckon on my vote, and best efforts in your favour.

If, as you once gave me some reason to hope, and as I still flatter myself is not unlikely, you can give us a few days at Hod­net during this winter or spring, I should like to show you the rest of my collection, and should be glad to enjoy the advantage of your suggestions and criticisms.[1]

Within a few months, Milman responded favorably with a few hymns, including texts intended for Advent, Good Friday, and Palm Sunday. Heber expressed his gratitude in a letter of 11 May 1821:

I rejoice to hear so good an account of the progress which your Saint is making towards her crown, and feel really grateful for the kindness which enables you, while so occupied, to recollect my hymn book. I have in the last month received some assistance from ——. which would have once pleased me well; but alas! your Advent, Good Friday, and Palm Sunday hymns have spoilt me for all other attempts of the sort. There are several Sundays yet vacant, and a good many of the Saints’ days. But I need not tell you that any of the other days will either carry double, or, if you prefer it, the compositions which now occupy them will “contract their arms for you, and recede from as much of heaven” as you may require. When our vol­ume is completed, I shall be very anxious to have a day or two with you to arrange the weeding of the collection. If you would enable me, I should gladly get rid of by far the greater part of my compilation. But this is more than can be expected; and if you saw the heaps of manure which I have been obliged to turn over to gain a few barley corns, you would not think so ill of my diligence as a spicilegist as I believe you now do.[2]

Milman’s Palm Sunday hymn was undoubtedly the one eventually appearing in print, “Ride on, ride on in majesty.” Milman contributed more hymns, while his friends Walter Scott and Robert Southey evidently did not make the same effort (Scott eventually submitted just one text). On 28 December 1821, Heber wrote yet again:

You have indeed sent me a most powerful reinforcement to my projected hymn book. A few more such hymns and I shall neither need nor wait for the aid of Scott and Southey. Most sincerely, I have not seen any lines of the kind which more completely correspond to my ideas of what such compositions ought to be, or to the plan, the outline of which it has been my wish to fill up.[3]

By the following November, he had submitted a draft of the collection to the Bishop of London for approval. He wrote to his wife Amelia on 21 November 1822, “The Bishop of London has suggested a good many alterations in my hymns, but speaks very handsomely of them, and encourages me to publish them.”[4] To Milman, December 1822, he gave more detail on the Bishop’s wishes:

Of my conversations with the bishop of London, I have, on the whole, a very favourable account to render. He himself acknowledged and lamented a deficiency in ear; and, accord­ingly, being accustomed to judge of metres rather by his fingers than by any other test, he is less tolerant than I could wish of anapestics and trochaic lines. He was surprised, however, when I showed him that your “Chariot” for Advent Sunday rolled to the same time with the old 104th Psalm. In other respects his taste is exquisite; though, where my own lines were concerned, I thought him sometimes too severe and uncompromising a lover of simplicity. On the whole, however, we have passed his ordeal triumph­antly. He encourages us to proceed, and even suggests the advantage of Psalms, two for each Sunday, from the different authorised versions enumerated by Todd, to be published in the same volume with our hymns. This we may talk over when we meet, which I hope we may contrive to do in January or February next.

In spite of their progress, the hymn book was not realized in his lifetime, as he was appointed the new Bishop of Calcutta, India, in January 1823, setting sail for that country on June 18. The collection was assembled and brought to press after his death (3 April 1826) by his wife Amelia.

II. Text: Publication History

Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (London: John Murray, 1827 | Fig. 2) included Milman’s hymn for Palm Sunday (the sixth Sunday in Lent), in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, without music.

The hymn also appeared in Milman’s own collection, A Selection of Psalms and Hymns Adapted to the Use of the Church of St. Margaret’s (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, 1837), without any changes from its 1827 form.

The hymn often appears in altered form, especially as it was changed by F.H. Murray in the Hymnal for Use in the English Church (London: John and Charles Mozley, 1852 | Fig. 3). Murray introduced the line “O Saviour meek, pursue Thy road” in stanza 1 and “angel armies” in stanza 3.

Murray’s version was adopted into the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (London: Novello, 1861), with the additional change of “Expects” in stanza 4 to “Awaits.” This altered version was thus repeated in many other collections. Some hymnals, beginning with H.V. Elliott’s Psalms and Hymns (1835), have strangely omitted stanza 1, the stanza most closely tying the text to Palm Sunday, with its “Hosanna” and palms and scattered garments.

III. Text: Analysis

This hymn by Milman is much less a narrative or paraphrase of the triumphal entry (Matt. 21, Mk. 11, Lk. 19, Jn. 12) than it is a forward-looking hymn pointing from the palms to the cross to his ascended position on the throne. The triumphal entry itself is a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 (“Behold, your king is coming to you . . . humble and mounted on a donkey”). The recurring opening line is possibly an allusion to Psalm 45:4 (“in thy majesty ride prosperously”).

Some hymnological commentators connect this hymn with the idea of the great reversal in Philippians 2:5-12, where we find the Christ who humbled himself in a crucified death, later to be exalted, name above all names, to which every knee will bow. As Canadian hymn scholar Stanley Osborne observed, this hymn’s poetic strength is in its exploration of that duality:

Objective, robust, confident, and stirring, it possesses that peculiar combination of tragedy and victory which draws the singer into the very centre of the drama. It is this which gives the hymn its power and its challenge.[5]

Lutheran scholar David R. Schmitt sees the hymn as a testament of faith:

Milman is not inviting people to identify with the Palm Sunday crowds nor with the crowd that demanded, “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13). Instead, he is asking Christians to make a confession of faith as they celebrate Palm Sunday. . . . While the tribes cry, “Hosanna, save now!” the people of God know what it truly means for Jesus to save, and yet, both in spite of and because of that holy and horrifying knowledge, they cry out for Jesus to “ride on.”[6]

Carol A. Doran noted the pervasive use of exclamation points in Milman’s original text (22 in all), saying “they convey a sense of resolute courage in the face of unavoidable tragedy.”[7] Similarly, J.R. Watson noted the tension involved in the foreshadowing of what was to come:

The sense that Jesus is riding into Jerusalem to face His last and most terrible ordeal is very strong: and our foreknowledge of what is going to happen gives a powerful and complex significance to the event itself. Milman exploits this brilliantly, especially in the third verse, where the angels, unable to alter the course of events, look on in wonder and sorrow.[8]

IV. Tunes

1. John Bernard Sale

One of the oldest musical settings (quite possibly the oldest) made for Milman’s hymn was a tune composed by John Bernard Sale (1779–1856), who was organist at St. Margaret’s, Westminster (1809–1838), when Henry Milman served there as rector (1835–1849). During their overlapping employment at St. Margaret’s of about three years (1835–1838), they produced Psalms and Hymns for the Service of the Church . . . Compiled for the Use of St. Margaret’s, Westminster (London: H.H. Milman, 1837 | Fig. 4). Thus Milman would have personally sung his hymn to Sale’s tune.

2. WESTMINSTER NEW (DIR DIR JEHOVAH)

This melody has its roots in a German tune first published in Musicalisch Hand-Buch der Geistlichen Melodien à Cant. et Bass (Hamburg, 1690), where it was intended for the words “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten” by Georg Neumark, using a meter of 98.98.88. Unfortunately, the last surviving copy of this collection, once held at the university library in Hamburg, Germany, was destroyed in a bombing raid in WWII. Nonetheless, the melody had previously been examined and reprinted in Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, vol. 2 (Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1890), no. 2781 (Fig. 5).

The melody was adapted by Johann A. Freylinghausen in his Geist-reiches Gesang-buch (Halle: Wäysen-Haus, 1704 | 2nd ed. shown at Fig. 6), set to the text “Dir, dir Jehovah wil ich singen” by Bartholomäus Crasselius. Freylinghausen expanded the tune to fit a text of 9.10.9.10.10.10, the biggest change being the long ascending scale at the beginning of the second phrase. This version of the tune is usually called DIR DIR JEHOVAH and appears in some English hymnals in this form, including The Psalter Hymnal (1987) and The Hymnal 1982 (published in 1985).

This tune first entered English hymnody through the Wesleys’ Collection of Tunes, Set to Music, as They Are Commonly Sung at the Foundery (London: A. Pearson, 1742 | Fig. 7). In that collection, the tune was called “Swift German Tune” and it had been altered to fit “Father of light, from whom proceeds,” a text of 8.8.8.8.8.8 by Charles Wesley (1707–1788). In this image, the designation “Vol. 1. Page 85” refers to their first collection called Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739). The Wesleyan form of the tune most closely resembles the original 1690 version, not Freylinghausen’s adaptation.

The tune was first called WINCHESTER in Thomas Moore’s Psalm Singer’s Compleat Tutor and Divine Companion (London, 1750) and more properly called WINCHESTER NEW (versus WINCHESTER OLD) in The Divine Musical Miscellany (London: William Smith, 1754), a collection of tunes intended for use with George Whitefield’s hymnal. The latter version is also notable for being recast in triple time, which was imitated in some other collections.

The version of the tune as it most commonly appears in modern hymnals was edited by William Henry Havergal (1793–1870), published in his Old Church Psalmody (1847; 4th ed. shown at Fig. 8). Havergal called the tune CRASSELIUS, apparently thinking the tune was by Bartholomäus Crasselius, whereas he was only the writer of the associated text, as above (Fig. 6). Following Havergal’s example, the tune has sometimes been printed in other collections under that name. Like Wesley and others, Havergal published the tune as a setting for texts with eight-syllable lines, except he removed the repeat to reduce the meter to 8.8.8.8 (long meter). Havergal’s revision of the melody is essentially a simplification of the rhythms, elongating the first and last notes of every phrase, eliminating the melismas, and thereby also eliminating the low octave at the end of the first phrase.

The tune was adopted into the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (London: Novello, 1861 | Fig. 9), where it was set for the first time to “Ride on! ride on in majesty!” It was also set to three other texts, illustrating the versatility of the tune. In this case, Havergal’s harmonization was replaced with one by William H. Monk, the tune name was changed back to WINCHESTER NEW, but in the index, the editors followed Havergal’s example by crediting the tune to Crasselius, 1650. Notice also how the editors used Murray’s alteration of Milman’s text.

3. ST. DROSTANE

Another tune composed specifically for this text, in continuous use since its first publication, is ST. DROSTANE by J.B. Dykes (1823–1876). Dykes’ tune was first published in R.R. Chope’s Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (London: William Mackenzie, 1862 | Fig. 10). The tune was named (in the index of Chope’s collection) after St. Drostan (7th century), a disciple of St. Columba, known for his work in Ireland and Scotland.

Dykes’ tune gained wider acceptance after it was included in the second edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (1875), replacing WINCHESTER NEW. Hymnologist Carl Daw noted the similarity between this and WINCHESTER NEW in the way the melody opens with a leap of a fourth. After describing what he felt was a “lack of coherence” in the way the musical phrases were crafted, he observed, “the tune ends well by coming to rest on the mediant, rather than resolving to the tonic—a feature that leaves the hymn somewhat open-ended, as befits the beginning of the Holy Week story.”[9]

4. KING’S MAJESTY

One other prominent tune connected with Milman’s text is KING’S MAJESTY by English-Canadian composer Graham George (1912–1993), who provided this story of his tune’s composition for the Guide to the Pilgrim Hymnal (1966):

It originated as the result of a choir-practice before Palm Sunday in, I suppose, 1939, during which I had been thinking, WINCHESTER NEW is a fine tune, but is has nothing to do whatever to do with the “tragic trumpets,” as one might theatrically call them, of Palm Sunday. At breakfast the following morning I was enjoying my toast and marmalade when the first two lines of this tune sang themselves unbidden in my mind. This seemed too good to miss, so I went to my study, allowed the half-tune to complete itself—which it did with very little trouble—and there it was.[10]

At the time, George was organist at St. Peter’s Church, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. 1939 was also the year George completed his Doctor of Music degree at the University of Toronto, having studied organ and composition under Alfred Whitehead (1887–1974). His tune was first published as a choral anthem, “Ride on! Ride on!” in 1941 (Fig. 11), then first published as a hymn tune in The Hymnal 1940 (Fig. 12), which, in spite of its name, was not printed until 1943. On this page, the tune is dated 1940, and the copyright is given as 1941 by The H.W. Gray Co. (the publisher of the anthem).

George’s tune is highly regarded by hymn scholars. Both Stanley Osborne (1976) and Raymond Glover (1994) saw this as “the proper tune” for Milman’s text. The editors of The Hymnal 1940 Companion said, “It is a splendid example of the modern unison tune, with a rhythmic freedom which helps convey to the listener the grandeur of its subject.”[11] The rhythmic freedom is found in the way the end of every phrase is elongated by a beat, mildly suspending the regular four-beat count. Osborne went so far as to call it, “one of the greatest tunes to come out of this century. . . . It heralded a new era in the writing of hymn tunes in Canada.”[12] Glover offered a more analytical assessment:

Although basically diatonic in structure, the use of an ascending pattern of thirds in the first two phrases of the melody supports its striding heroic nature. Through the rhythmic ingenuity of the composer, an extra beat is added at the ends of phrases in otherwise regular 4/4 measures, giving the singer a very natural breath pause. Further rhythmic freedom in the climactic third phrase expands the dramatic impact of the setting and gives it an added forward thrust into the closing phrase.[13]

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
19 March 2020
rev. 17 December 2020

Footnotes:

1. Amelia Heber, The Life of Reginald Heber, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1830), pp. 32–33: Archive.org

2. Amelia Heber, The Life of Reginald Heber, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1830), pp. 39–40: Archive.org

3. Amelia Heber, The Life of Reginald Heber, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1830), pp. 49–50: Archive.org

4. Amelia Heber, The Life of Reginald Heber, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1830), pp. 49–50: Archive.org

5. Stanley L. Osborne, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” If Such Holy Song (Whitby, Ontario: Institute of Church Music, 1976), no. 449.

6. David R. Schmitt, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Lutheran Service Book Companion, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), p. 289.

7. Carol A. Doran, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), p. 317.

8. J.R. Watson, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 246.

9. Carl P. Daw Jr., “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), p. 201.

10. Albert C. Ronander & Ethel K. Porter, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Guide to the Pilgrim Hymnal (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1966), p. 141.

11. “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed. (NY: Church Pension Fund, 1962), p. 49.

12. Stanley L. Osborne, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” If Such Holy Song (Whitby, Ontario: Institute of Church Music, 1976), no. 449.

13. Raymond Glover, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 317–318.

Related Resources:

John Julian, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 961: Google Books

Albert Edward Bailey, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), p. 168.

K.L. Parry & Erik Routley, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Companion to Congregational Praise (London: Independent Press, 1953). pp. 75–76.

“Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed. (NY: Church Pension Fund, 1962), p. 49.

Albert C. Ronander & Ethel K. Porter, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Guide to the Pilgrim Hymnal (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1966), pp. 140–141.

Stanley L. Osborne, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” If Such Holy Song (Whitby, Ontario: Institute of Church Music, 1976), no. 449.

Richard Watson & Kenneth Trickett, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Companion to Hymns and Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1988), pp. 83, 120–121.

Carol A. Doran & Raymond Glover, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 316–318.

Robin A. Leaver, “DIR DIR JEHOVAH,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 1006–1007.

Bert Polman, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids: CRC, 1998), pp. 537–538.

J.R. Watson, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), pp. 245–246.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 200–201.

David R. Schmitt & Joseph Herl, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Lutheran Service Book Companion, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 287–290.

Robert Cottrill, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” Wordwise Hymns (23 May 2014):
https://wordwisehymns.com/2014/05/23/ride-on-ride-on-in-majesty/

“Ride on! Ride on in majesty!” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/ride_on_ride_on_in_majesty