I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen in Tonic Solfa
I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen in Tonic Solfa to SELENA, doh is Ab: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sI-spraised-sthe- | learth-----sin-sbeau--fety- | sseen,-----tWith-tgar--d'lands- |
| r'gay-----d'of-d'var--tious- | d'green;-----sI-spraised-sthe- |
| lsea,-----swhose-sam--feple- | sfield-----tShone-tglo--d'rious- |
| r'as-----d'a-d'sil--tver- | d'shield;-----m'And-m'earth-m'and- |
| f'o------m'cean-r'seemed-d'to- | lsay,-----l"Our-lbeau--lties- |
| sare-sbut-sfor---sa--- | sday."----- |
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- Key
- Ab major
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- s (E♭)
- Range
- fe to f' (E𝄫 to D♭, a seventh)
- Tune
- SELENA
- Words
- Reginald Heber
- Music
- Isaac B. Woodbury
Tune SELENA by Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858); words by Reginald Heber (1783–1826). 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 Ab · 3/2
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Ab major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
I praised the earth in beauty seen,
With garlands gay of various green;
I praised the sea, whose ample field
Shone glorious as a silver shield;
And earth and ocean seemed to say,
"Our beauties are but for a day."
I praised the sun, whose chariot rolled
On wheels of amber and of gold;
I praised the moon, whose softer eye
Gleamed sweetly through the summer sky;
And moon and sun in answer said,
"Our years are told when we must fade."
O God, O, good beyond compare!
If thus thy meaner works are fair, —
If thus thy bounties gild the span
Of sinful earth and mortal man, —
How glorious must thy mansion be
Where thy redeemed shall dwell with thee.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Ab 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 (E♭), on the word “I”, 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
Reginald Heber wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 182 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “The Visible World a Shadow of the Invisible”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Long Metre, six lines (8.8.8.8.8.8), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to SELENA; any other Long Metre, six lines tune fits them as well.
- Words: Reginald Heber (1783–1826)
- Music (1850): Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858)
Tune SELENA by Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858); words by Reginald Heber (1783–1826).
Sung to the same tune: Above, Below, Where'er I Gaze, Afflicted by a Gracious God, All Things Are Possible to Him, Around Bethesda's Healing Wave, Behold the Servant of the Lord, Blest Who with Generous Pity Glows, Captain of Our Salvation, Take, Come, O Thou Universal Good, Creator Spirit, by Whose Light, Father of Everlasting, Grace, Father of Lights, from Whom Proceeds, God Sent Me to the Desert Wild, Hark! upon the Morning Breezes, I Brought My Darkest Sin to Mind, I Brought My Merits to the Throne, I Sought the Lord at Early Morn, If Listening, as I Listen Still, Jesu, If Still the Same Thou Art, Jesus, Thou Source of Calm Repose, Join, All Ye Servants of the Lord, Lord of the Sea! — Thy Potent Sway, O 'Tis Enough, My God, My God, O Come, Thou Radiant Morning Star, O Let My Trembling Soul Be Still, O Lord of Bounty, Let This Bread, O Lord, Whose Bounteous Hand Again, O Love, I Languish at Thy Stay, O Thou Whom Fain My Soul Would Love, O Thou, in Whom the Weary Find, Our Earth We Now Lament to See, Peace, Troubled Soul, Whose Plaintive Moan, Strange and Mysterious Is My Life, The Heavens, O Lord! Thy Power Proclaim, The Promise Which the Saviour Made, Thou God Unsearchable, Unknown, Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose, Thou, Lord, on Whom I Still Depend, To Thee, My God! to Thee I Bring, Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay, Watched by the World's Malignant Eye, Weary of Wandering from My God, What Must It Be to Dwell Above, What Shall I Do My God to Love, When Quiet in My House I Sit, When Streaming from the Eastern Skies, When Thou Wert Crucified by Men, Would Jesus Have the Sinner Die.
Questions about I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen
What is the doh of I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen?
In this version, in Ab major, doh is Ab. 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 I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen start on?
It starts on s (E♭ in Ab major), a pickup on the word “I” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen in the public domain?
Yes. Reginald Heber died in 1826, Isaac B. Woodbury died in 1858; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1850. 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.