Now the Light Has Gone Away in Tonic Solfa
Now the Light Has Gone Away in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (F)
- Range
- l, to l (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- MÜDE BIN ICH, GEH ZUR RUH
- Words
- Frances Ridley Havergal
- Music
- From Liederbuch für Kleinkinder-Schulen, 1842
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune MÜDE BIN ICH, GEH ZUR RUH (From Liederbuch für Kleinkinder-Schulen, 1842); words by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| dNow--dthedlight-dhas- | t,gone-da--rway;--- |
| rFa--rther,-rlis--rten- | dwhile-rI-mpray,--- |
| mAsk---mingmThee-mto- | rwatch-dand-lkeep--- |
| sAnd-mto-ssend-fme- | l,qui--t,et-dsleep.--- |
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 F major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Now the light has gone away;
Father, listen while I pray,
Asking Thee to watch and keep
And to send me quiet sleep.
Jesus, Savior, wash away
All that has been wrong today;
Help me every day to be
Good and gentle, more like Thee.
Let my near and dear ones be
Always near and dear to Thee.
Oh, bring me and all I love
To Thy happy home above.
Now my evening praise I give;
Thou didst die that I might live.
All my blessings come from Thee;
Oh, how good Thou art to me!
Thou, my best and kindest Friend,
Thou wilt love me to the end.
Let me love Thee more and more,
Always better than before.
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 d (F).
- 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 Frances Ridley Havergal, first published in 1869. The tune, MÜDE BIN ICH, GEH ZUR RUH, is from Liederbuch für Kleinkinder-Schulen, 1842. This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1869): Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879)
- Melody (1842): From Liederbuch für Kleinkinder-Schulen, 1842
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune MÜDE BIN ICH, GEH ZUR RUH (From Liederbuch für Kleinkinder-Schulen, 1842); words by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879). 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 Now the Light Has Gone Away
What is the doh of Now the Light Has Gone Away?
In this version, in F major, 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 Now the Light Has Gone Away start on?
It starts on d (F in F major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Now the Light Has Gone Away in the public domain?
Yes. Frances Ridley Havergal died in 1879; the words were first published in 1869 and the music in 1842. 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.