Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day in Tonic Solfa

Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day in Tonic Solfa to PLEYEL'S HYMN, doh is G: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.

The solfa with the words

Doh is G4/4
mChoice-sof-rGod,--mthoufbless--red-mday,---
mAt-sthy-rdawn--mthefgrave-rgave-dway---
rTo-mthe-dpower--roft,him-l,with--s,in,---
mWho-shad,-rsin---mless,fbled-rfor-dsin.---

Got your choir's recording? Get it in solfa →

Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir

Key
G major
Doh
G
Time
4/4
Starts on
m (B)
Range
s, to s (D to D, an octave)
Tune
PLEYEL'S HYMN
Words
Hannah Flagg Gould
Music
Ignaz Joseph Pleyel

Tune PLEYEL'S HYMN by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (died undefined); words by Hannah Flagg Gould (1789–1865). 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 G · 4/4

| m - s - r - - m Choice of God, thou| f - r - m - - - |blessed day,
| m - s - r - - m At thy dawn the| f - r - d - - - |grave gave way
| r - m - d - - r To the power of| t, - l, - s, - - - |him within,
| m - s - r - - m Who had, sinless,| f - r - d - - - |bled for sin.

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in G major, with the first verse under the notes.

The words

Choice of God, thou blessed day,
At thy dawn the grave gave way
To the power of him within,
Who had, sinless, bled for sin.

Thine the radiance to illume
First, for man, the dismal tomb,
When its bars their weakness owned,
There revealing death dethroned.

Then the Sun of righteousness
Rose, a darkened world to bless,
Bringing up from mortal night
Immortality and light.

Day of glory, day of power,
Sacred be thine every hour,
Emblem, earnest of the rest
That remaineth for the blest!

How to sing it from the solfa

  • Find doh first. Play or hum G 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 m (B).
  • 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. 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

Hannah Flagg Gould wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 59 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “The Sabbath”.

The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sevens (7.7.7.7), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to PLEYEL'S HYMN; any other Sevens tune fits them as well.

Tune PLEYEL'S HYMN by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (died undefined); words by Hannah Flagg Gould (1789–1865).

Sung to the same tune: As the Sun's Enlivening Eye, Blest Instructor! from Thy Ways, Christ, from Whom All Blessings Flow, Come, Said Jesus' Sacred Voice, For a Season Called to Part, Heralds of Creation! Cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, I Will Praise Thee Every Day, Interval of Grateful Shade, Lift Aloud the Voice of Praise, Morning Breaks upon the Tomb, Oft in Sorrow, Oft in Woe, Prayer an Answer Will Obtain, Sleep Not, Soldier of the Cross, Softly Now the Light of Day, Sweeter Founds Than Music Knows, Swell the Anthem, Raise the Song, Thus Said Jesus: — "Go and Do, When, My Saviour, Shall I Be.

Questions about Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day

What is the doh of Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day?

In this version, in G major, doh is G. 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 Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day start on?

It starts on m (B in G major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.

Is Choice of God, Thou Blessed Day in the public domain?

Yes. Hannah Flagg Gould died in 1865, Ignaz Joseph Pleyel died in undefined; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1790. 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.

More by Hannah Flagg Gould

Everything by Hannah Flagg Gould (2 hymns)

More by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel

Everything by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (20 hymns and 1 hymn tune)