Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory in Tonic Solfa
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory in Tonic Solfa to BATTLE HYMN: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the 5 verses and the refrain, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sMine-,s_ | seyes-,shavesseen-,fthemglo--,sryd'of-,r'the | m'com--,m'ingm'of-,r'thed'Lord:-d'He-,tis |
| ltramp--,llinglout-,tthed'vin--,ttaged'where-,lthe | sgrapes-,lofswrath-,maresstored;-sHe-,shath |
| sloosed-,sthesfate--,ffulmlight--,sningd'of-,r'His | m'ter--,m'ri-m'ble-,r'swiftd'sword:-d'His- |
| r'truth-r'is-d'march--ting- | d'on.-----__ |
| sGlo---fry!mglo--,sry!d'Hal--,r'le- | m'lu----d'jah!--- |
| lGlo---try!d'glo--,try!d'Hal--,lle- | slu----mjah!--- |
| sGlo---fry!mglo--,sry!d'Hal--,r'le- | m'lu----d'jah!-d'His- |
| r'truth-r'is-d'march--ting- | d'on.----- |
Got your choir's recording? Get it in solfa →
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- Bb major
- Doh
- Bb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (F)
- Range
- m to m' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- BATTLE HYMN
- Words
- Julia Ward Howe
- Music
- Traditional American camp-meeting tune
Tune BATTLE HYMN (traditional American camp-meeting tune); words by Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910). 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 Bb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Bb major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Refrain
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you My grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Bb 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 (F), on the word “Mine”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- 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. A cell split by a comma holds two quarter beats: d -,r is a dotted quaver and a semiquaver, d,r two semiquavers. That comma sits between two syllables; an octave mark sits small and low against its own letter (s,).
- 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
Julia Ward Howe wrote the words, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, in Washington in November 1861, and The Atlantic Monthly published them in February 1862. They are sung to an American camp-meeting tune of about 1856, often attributed to William Steffe.
- Words (1861): Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910)
- Melody (c.1856): Traditional American camp-meeting tune
Questions about Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
What is the doh of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory?
In this version, in Bb major, doh is Bb. 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 Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory start on?
It starts on s (F in Bb major), a pickup on the word “Mine” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory in the public domain?
Yes. Julia Ward Howe died in 1910; the words were first published in 1862 and the music in 1856. 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.