Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence in Tonic Solfa
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 4 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- D minor
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- l, (D)
- Range
- l, to l (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- PICARDY
- Words
- From Liturgy of St. James, Gerard Moultrie
- Music
- Traditional French
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune PICARDY (traditional French); words by From Liturgy of St. James; translated by Gerard Moultrie (1829–1885). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| l,Let-t,all-dmor--rtal- | mflesh---mkeep-r_- |
| msi----mlence,--- | mAnd-mwith-ffear-sand- |
| ftrem----mbling-r_- | mstand;------- |
| l,Pon--t,der-dno--rthing- | mearth----mly-r_- |
| mmind----med,--- | mFor-mwith-fbles--ssing- |
| fin---mHis-r_- | mhand,------- |
| mChrist-mour-lGod-mto- | rearth-----dde-- |
| l,scend--d_-m_-d_- | t,eth,------- |
| mOur-mfull-lhom--mage- | rto---t,de--d_- |
| l,mand.------- |
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.
Doh is F · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in D minor, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heav'nly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the pow'rs of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six wingèd seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum F 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 l, (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. 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
The words are anonymous, in print by 400. The English translation is by Gerard Moultrie (1864). The tune, PICARDY, is Traditional French. This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (400): From Liturgy of St. James
- Translated (1864): Gerard Moultrie (1829–1885)
- Melody: Traditional French
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune PICARDY (traditional French); words by From Liturgy of St. James; translated by Gerard Moultrie (1829–1885). The Open Hymnal Project publishes this hymn as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Questions about Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
What is the doh of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence?
In this version, in D minor, doh is F. 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 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence start on?
It starts on l, (D in D minor). Find doh first, then sing up or down to l,.
Is Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence in the public domain?
Yes. Gerard Moultrie died in 1885; the words were first published in 1864 and the music in 1906. 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.