O Come O Come Emmanuel in Tonic Solfa
O Come O Come Emmanuel in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 6 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- E minor
- Doh
- G
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- l, (E)
- Range
- s, to s (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- VENI EMMANUEL
- Words
- Anonymous, John Mason Neale
- Music
- Traditional French
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune VENI EMMANUEL (traditional French); words by Anonymous; translated by John Mason Neale (1818–1866). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| l,O- | dcome,-mO-mcome,-mEm-- | rman--f_-m_-ru-- |
| del,-----rAnd- | mran--dsom-l,cap--dtive- |
| rIs--t,_-l,_-s,ra-- | l,el,-----rThat- |
| rmourns-l,in-l,lone--t,ly- | de----t,_-l,xile- |
| s,here-----dUn-- | rtil-mthe-mSon-mof- |
| rGod-f_-m_-rap-- | dpear.-----sRe-- |
| sjoice!-----mRe-- | mjoice!-----mEm-- |
| rman--f_-m_-ru-- | del-----rshall- |
| mcome-dto-l,thee,-dO- | rI--t,_-l,_-s,sra-- |
| l,el.----- |
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 E minor, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them vict'ry ov'r the grave.
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
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 l, (E), on the word “O”, 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. 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 anonymous, in print by 1200. The English translation is by John Mason Neale (1851). The tune, VENI EMMANUEL, is Traditional French. This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1200): Anonymous
- Translated (1851): John Mason Neale (1818–1866)
- Melody (1500): Traditional French
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune VENI EMMANUEL (traditional French); words by Anonymous; translated by John Mason Neale (1818–1866). 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 O Come O Come Emmanuel
What is the doh of O Come O Come Emmanuel?
In this version, in E minor, 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 O Come O Come Emmanuel start on?
It starts on l, (E in E minor), a pickup on the word “O” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to l,.
Is O Come O Come Emmanuel in the public domain?
Yes. John Mason Neale died in 1866; the words were first published in 1851 and the music in 1500. 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.