Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall in Tonic Solfa
Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall in Tonic Solfa to SONG TWENTY-TWO, doh is F: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sBreathe---sthoughts-mof- | lpi----sty--- |
| so'er-fa-mbroth--ser's- | rfall,------- |
| rBut---mdwell-dnot- | fwith---rstern--- |
| san--dger-mon-rhis- | dfault;------- |
| mThe---fgrace-sof- | lGod---la---- |
| rlone-sholds-sthee,-feholds- | sall;------- |
| t,Were---dthat-rwith-- | mdrawn,---fthou,--- |
| stoo,-lwouldst-rswerve-rand- | dhalt.------- |
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- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (C)
- Range
- t, to l (E to D, a seventh)
- Tune
- SONG TWENTY-TWO
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Orlando Gibbons
Tune SONG TWENTY-TWO by Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625); words by Anonymous. Sources and licences.
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is F · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Breathe thoughts of pity o'er a brother's fall,
But dwell not with stern anger on his fault;
The grace of God alone holds thee, holds all;
Were that withdrawn, thou, too, wouldst swerve and halt.
Send back the wand'rer to the Saviour's fold;
That were an action worthy of a saint;
But not in malice let the crime be told,
Nor publish to the world the evil taint.
The Saviour suffers when his children slide;
Then is his holy name by men blasphemed
And he afresh is mocked and crucified,
Even by those his bitter death redeemed.
Rebuke the sin, and yet in love rebuke;
Feel as one member in another's pain;
Win back the soul that his fair path forsook,
And mighty and rejoicing is thy gain!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum F and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on s (C).
- Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t and the chromatic fe. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
These words were printed without an author's name in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 814 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “The Same”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Tens (10.10.10.10), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to SONG TWENTY-TWO; any other Tens tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Music (1623): Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)
Tune SONG TWENTY-TWO by Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: Cheer Up, My Soul, There Is a Mercy-seat, Father! There Is No Change to Live with Thee, Glory to God! the Morn Appointed Breaks, God of the Changing Year, Whose Arm of Power, The Morning Breaks, I Place My Hand in Thine, Though Lonely Be Thy Path, Fear Not, for He.
Questions about Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall
What is the doh of Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall?
In this version, in F major, doh is F. If your choir sings it in another key, doh moves to the new key note and every solfa syllable stays the same — that is what movable doh means.
What note does Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall start on?
It starts on s (C in F major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Breathe Thoughts of Pity O'er a Brother's Fall in the public domain?
Yes. Orlando Gibbons died in 1625; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1623. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.