For All the Saints in Tonic Solfa
For All the Saints in Tonic Solfa to Barnby's SARUM (doh is Eb): the All Saints' Day hymn, the solfa under the words, staff notation, 8 verses and a piano.
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (B♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- SARUM
- Words
- William Walsham How
- Music
- Joseph Barnby
Tune SARUM by Joseph Barnby (1838–1896); words by William Walsham How (1823–1897). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| sFor---mall-fthe- | ssaints,---swho--- |
| lfrom-ltheir-lla--lbours- | lrest,---s_--- |
| sWho---d'Thee-d'by- | tfaith-lbe--sfore-fethem_ |
| rworld---lcon---- | sfessed,------- |
| sThy---rName,-mO- | rJe----dsus,--- |
| sbe-sfor-lev--ser- | fblessed.---mAl---rle- |
| slu-------- | dia,---fAl---mle- |
| rlu-------- | dia!------- |
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 WhatsApp message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is Eb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Eb major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be for ever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might:
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win, with them, the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Eb 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 (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 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
William Walsham How wrote For All the Saints in 1864, a hymn for All Saints' Day (1 November), the day after Halloween. It is sung here to SARUM, the tune Joseph Barnby wrote for it in 1868, as The Hymnal of the Episcopal Church (1916) prints it, with that book's eight verses. Many churches now sing it to Ralph Vaughan Williams' SINE NOMINE (1906), which is not on this site because it is still in copyright in many countries.
The book prints the tune in long notes (minims); here every note is half as long, the way most hymn books print it now.
- Words (1864): William Walsham How (1823–1897)
- Music (1868): Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
Tune SARUM by Joseph Barnby (1838–1896); words by William Walsham How (1823–1897).
Questions about For All the Saints
What is the doh of For All the Saints?
In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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 For All the Saints start on?
It starts on s (B♭ in Eb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is For All the Saints in the public domain?
Yes. William Walsham How died in 1897, Joseph Barnby died in 1896; the words were first published in 1864 and the music in 1869. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.