Great Source of Life and Light in Tonic Solfa
Great Source of Life and Light in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 2 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dGreat-dSourcedofmlife-mand- | llight,-----lThy- |
| sheav--denly-fgrace-mim-- | rpart,-----rAnd- |
| mby-sthy-lho--sly- | fespir--mitr_swrite-d'Thy- |
| tlaw-d'up--lon-lmy- | sheart.-----sMy- |
| ssoul-mwould-rcleave-dto- | lthee;-----lLet- |
| lnought-femy-mpur--rpose- | tmove;-----tO,- |
| d'let--tmylfaith-smore- | fstead--rfast-mbe,-sAnd- |
| fmore-min--rtense-rmy- | dlove!------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- DIADEMATA
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); 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 D · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in D major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Great Source of life and light,
Thy heavenly grace impart,
And by thy holy spirit write
Thy law upon my heart.
My soul would cleave to thee;
Let nought my purpose move;
O, let my faith more steadfast be,
And more intense my love!
Long as my trials last,
Long as the cross I bear,
O, let my soul on thee be cast
In confidence and prayer!
Conduct me to the shore
Of everlasting peace,
Where storm and tempest rise no more,
Where sin and sorrow cease.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum D 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 (D).
- 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 1001 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “For a Holy Heart”, where the book credits them to a Wesleyan source.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to DIADEMATA; any other Short Metre Double tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: Ah Whither Should I Go, Ah, When Shall I Awake, And Am I Born to Die, Crown Him with Many Crowns, Equip Me for the War, Father of Boundless Grace, Gracious Redeemer, Shake, Hark! Hark! with Harps of Gold, I Want a Sober Mind, I Was a Wandering Sheep, I Will Not Yield My Sword, In Fellowship, Alone, It Is the Hour of Prayer, Jesu, We Look to Thee, Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, Lord, When at Thy Command, My God, My Strength, My Hope, My Sin Was Very Great, O God, in Mercy Hear, O That I Could Repent, O Thou Who Wouldst Not Have, O Unexhausted Grace, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, Sweet Is the Time of Spring, The Thing My God Doth Hate, We Mourn for Those Who Toil.
Questions about Great Source of Life and Light
What is the doh of Great Source of Life and Light?
In this version, in D major, doh is D. 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 Source of Life and Light start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Great Source of Life and Light in the public domain?
Yes. George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1868. 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.