Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending in Tonic Solfa
Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- G major
- Doh
- G
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (G)
- Range
- m, to s (B to D, a tenth)
- Tune
- HELMSLEY
- Words
- John Cennick, Charles Wesley
- Music
- Thomas Olivers
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune HELMSLEY by Thomas Olivers (1725–1799); words by John Cennick (1718–1755) and Charles Wesley (1707–1788). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| dLo!---mHe-s_- | dcomes-t,_-l,with-s,_- |
| l,clouds--t,_d_-t,de-l,_ | s,scend---f,_m,ing,--- |
| s,Once-----s,for- | dev----r'ry--- |
| msin--s_-fner-m_- | mslain;---r_--- |
| dThou----msand-s_- | dthou--t,_-l,sand-s,_- |
| l,saints--t,_d_-t,at-l,_ | s,tend---f,_m,ing,--- |
| s,Swell-----s,the- | dtri----rumph--- |
| mof-s_-fHis-m_- | mtrain:---r_--- |
| rHal---m_r_-mle-- | flu----mjah!--- |
| dHal---r_d_-fle-- | mlu--r_-djah!--- |
| mHal---f_m_-sle-- | flu--m_-rjah!--- |
| dGod---rap--m_- | s,pears---fon--- |
| mearth---rto--- | dreign.------- |
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 G · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in G major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for ev'ry sinner slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.
Ev'ry eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
Ev'ry island, sea, and mountain,
Heav'n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day:
Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment! Come away!
Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All His saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
See the day of God appear!
Answer Thine own bride and Spirit,
Hasten, Lord, the gen'ral doom!
The new Heav'n and earth inherit,
Take Thy pining exiles home:
All creation, all creation, all creation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum G 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 (G).
- 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 by John Cennick and Charles Wesley, first published in 1752. The tune, HELMSLEY, is by Thomas Olivers (1765). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1752): John Cennick (1718–1755)
- Words (1752): Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
- Music (1765): Thomas Olivers (1725–1799)
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune HELMSLEY by Thomas Olivers (1725–1799); words by John Cennick (1718–1755) and Charles Wesley (1707–1788). 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 Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending
What is the doh of Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending?
In this version, in G major, doh is G. 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 Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending start on?
It starts on d (G in G major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending in the public domain?
Yes. John Cennick died in 1755, Charles Wesley died in 1788, Thomas Olivers died in 1799; the words were first published in 1752 and the music in 1765. 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.