Great God, What Do I See and Hear in Tonic Solfa
Great God, What Do I See and Hear in Tonic Solfa to MIT FREUDEN ZART, doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dGreat--- | mGod,-fwhat-sdo---d'I--- | tsee-land-shear?---lThe--s_ |
| fend-mof-rthings---mcre--f_- | ra----dted;---dThe--- |
| mJudge-fof-sman----d'kind--- | tdoth-lap--spear---lOn--s_ |
| fclouds-mof-rglo----mry-f_- | rseat----ded;---d'The--- |
| ttrum--lpet-ssounds;---d'the--- | tgraves-lre--sstore---sThe--- |
| ddead-rwhich-mthey---dcon---- | mtained-febe--sfore:---sPre---- |
| lpare,-fmy-rsoul,---mto-f_- | rmeet---dHim.--- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- d (E♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- MIT FREUDEN ZART
- Music
- Bohemian Brethren's Kirchengesange
Tune MIT FREUDEN ZART (Bohemian Brethren's Kirchengesange); words by William Bengo Collyer (1782–1854). 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 Eb · 3/2
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
Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created;
The Judge of mankind doth appear
On clouds of glory seated;
The trumpet sounds; the graves restore
The dead which they contained before:
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.
The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpet’s sounding,
Caught up to meet Him in the skies;
With joy their Lord surrounding;
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.
But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold His wrath prevailing,
For they shall rise and find their tears
And sighs are unavailing;
The day of grace is past and gone;
Trembling they stand before the throne,
All unprepared to meet Him.
O Christ, who diedst and yet dost live,
To me impart Thy merit;
My pardon seal, my sins forgive,
And cleanse me by Thy Spirit.
Beneath Thy cross I view the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Thee.
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 d (E♭), on the word “Great”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/2 means three minim 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 Bengo Collyer wrote these words. They were printed in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (St. Louis, 1927), as hymn 553.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked 8.7.8.7.8.8.7, to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to MIT FREUDEN ZART; any other 8.7.8.7.8.8.7 tune fits them as well.
- Words: William Bengo Collyer (1782–1854)
- Melody (1566): Bohemian Brethren's Kirchengesange
Tune MIT FREUDEN ZART (Bohemian Brethren's Kirchengesange); words by William Bengo Collyer (1782–1854).
Sung to the same tune: Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above, When My Last Hour Is Close at Hand.
Questions about Great God, What Do I See and Hear
What is the doh of Great God, What Do I See and Hear?
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 Great God, What Do I See and Hear start on?
It starts on d (E♭ in Eb major), a pickup on the word “Great” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Great God, What Do I See and Hear in the public domain?
Yes. William Bengo Collyer died in 1854; the words were in print by 1927 and the music in 1566. 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.