My God, How Wonderful Thou Art in Tonic Solfa
My God, How Wonderful Thou Art in Tonic Solfa to WESTMINSTER: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the seven verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mMy- | sGod,-show-dwon--d'der-- | tful-lThou-sart,-sThy- | m'maj--tes--d'ty-r'how- | sbright,-----sHow- |
| tbeau--lti--seful-lThy- | d'mer--tcy--lseat,-lIn- | sdepths-dof-rburn--fing- | mlight!----- |
Got your choir's recording? Get it in solfa →
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- C major
- Doh
- C
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (E)
- Range
- d to m' (C to E, a tenth)
- Tune
- WESTMINSTER
- Music
- James Turle
Tune WESTMINSTER by James Turle (1802–1882); words by Frederick William Faber (1814–1863). 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 C · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in C major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
My God, how wonderful Thou art,
Thy majesty how bright,
How beautiful Thy mercy-seat,
In depths of burning light!
How dread are Thine eternal years,
O everlasting Lord,
By prostrate spirits day and night
Incessantly adored!
How wonderful, how beautiful,
The sight of Thee must be,
Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!
Oh, how I fear Thee, Living God,
With deepest, tenderest fears,
And worship Thee with trembling hope,
And penitential tears!
Yet I may love Thee too, O Lord,
Almighty as Thou art,
For Thou hast stoop’d to ask of me
The love of my poor heart.
No earthly father loves like Thee,
No mother, e’er so mild,
Bears and forbears as Thou hast done
With me Thy sinful child.
Father of Jesus, love’s reward,
What rapture will it be,
Prostrate before Thy Throne to lie,
And gaze and gaze on Thee!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum C 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 m (E), on the word “My”, 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.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t and the chromatic se. 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
Frederick William Faber wrote the words, published in 1849. James Turle’s tune WESTMINSTER dates from 1835; Hymns Ancient and Modern sets the words to it.
- Words (1849): Frederick William Faber (1814–1863)
- Music (1835): James Turle (1802–1882)
Questions about My God, How Wonderful Thou Art
What is the doh of My God, How Wonderful Thou Art?
In this version, in C major, doh is C. 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 My God, How Wonderful Thou Art start on?
It starts on m (E in C major), a pickup on the word “My” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is My God, How Wonderful Thou Art in the public domain?
Yes. Frederick William Faber died in 1863, James Turle died in 1882; the words were first published in 1849 and the music in 1835. 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.