Now the Day Is Over in Tonic Solfa
Now the Day Is Over in Tonic Solfa to MERRIAL: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the 8 verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sNow-sthe-sday-sis- | so----sver,--- |
| lNight-lis-sedraw--lingt_ | lnigh,---d'_--- |
| d'Shad---d'owstof-lthe- | seve----sning--- |
| sSteal--sa-scross-sthe- | ssky.------- |
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- Key
- A major
- Doh
- A
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (E)
- Range
- s to d' (E to A)
- Tune
- MERRIAL
- Words
- Sabine Baring-Gould
- Music
- Joseph Barnby
Tune MERRIAL by Joseph Barnby (1838–1896); words by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924). 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 A · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in A major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.
Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep,
Birds, and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.
Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tend’rest blessing
May mine eyelids close.
Grant to little children
Visions bright of Thee;
Guard the sailors tossing
On the deep, blue sea.
Comfort every suff’rer
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil
From their sin restrain.
Through the long night watches
May Thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.
When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.
Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to Thee, blest Spirit,
While all ages run.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum A 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).
- 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 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
Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the words in 1865, and they were printed in the Church Times that year; Hymns Ancient and Modern took them into its 1868 Appendix. Joseph Barnby wrote the tune MERRIAL in 1868.
- Words (1865): Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924)
- Music (1868): Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
Questions about Now the Day Is Over
What is the doh of Now the Day Is Over?
In this version, in A major, doh is A. 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 Now the Day Is Over start on?
It starts on s (E in A major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Now the Day Is Over in the public domain?
Yes. Sabine Baring-Gould died in 1924, Joseph Barnby died in 1896; the words were first published in 1865 and the music in 1868. 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.