Audio sample: hymnal verse - choir verse, ad lib - harmonized descant.  Free score. 

Commissioned by Czar Nicholas for use as a national anthem, the tune known as known as RUSSIA (or RUSSIAN HYMN) was composed by violinist and composer Alexei Lvov in 1833. This tune - and several harmonizations of it - superseded the preposterous use of the tune of the English national anthem, which otherwise retained the text 'God save the Czar.' Singable and majestic, this new anthem was quoted by Tchaikovsky in his 1880 masterpiece, The Year 1812 Solemn Overture. In 1917, events of history ended the use of this tune as a national anthem but happily for those with this setting in their hymnbooks, it has been regifted to us for more eternal puposes. Lvov's career was characterized by overachievement; he was also concertmaster of his own touring string ensemble, a civil engineer, and (eventually) a military general. In 1828 he was appointed aide-de-campe to the Czar, and subsequently attained the position of Maestro of the Imperial Chapel. His ensemble toured Europe and hosted guest soloists such as Liszt, the Schumanns, and Berlioz. The text now widely used for this setting is a reduction of two hymns, the first two verses coming from In Time of War by Henry Fothergill Chorley (1842), the final two coming from hymnologist John Ellerton's derivative, less nationalist text, written in 1870.