O Day of Rest and Gladness in Tonic Solfa
O Day of Rest and Gladness in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 6 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- G major
- Doh
- G
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (G)
- Range
- s, to s (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- WOODBIRD
- Words
- Christopher Wordsworth
- Music
- Traditional German
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune WOODBIRD (traditional German); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| dO- | dday-sof-mrest-dand- | t,glad---d_rness,-s,o- |
| l,day-dof-djoy-t,and- | dlight,-----dO- |
| dbalm-sof-mcare-dand- | t,sad---d_rness,-s,most- |
| l,beau--dti--dful,-t,most- | dbright:-----mOn- |
| dthee,-sthe-shighf_mand- | rlow----rly,-fthrough- |
| ma--rges-mjoined-din- | rtune,-----sSing- |
| fho--mly,-rho--dly,- | t,h---d_roly,-s,to- |
| l,the-dgreat-dGod-t,Tri-- | dune.----- |
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 G major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O day of rest and gladness,
o day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
most beautiful, most bright:
On thee, the high and lowly,
through ages joined in tune,
Sing holy, holy, holy,
to the great God Triune.
On thee, at the creation,
the light first had its birth;
On thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee, our Lord, victorious,
the Spirit sent from heaven,
And thus on thee, most glorious,
a triple light was given.
Thou art a port, protected
from storms that round us rise;
A garden, intersected
with streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
in life's dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah's mountain,
we view our promised land.
Thou art a holy ladder,
where angels go and come;
Each Sunday finds us gladder,
nearer to heaven, our home;
A day of sweet refection,
thou art a day of love,
A day of resurrection
from earth to things above.
Today on weary nations
the heavenly manna falls;
To holy convocations
the silver trumpet calls,
Where Gospel light is glowing
with pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing,
with soul refreshing streams.
D New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining to spirits of the blessed.
To Holy Ghost be praises, to Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises to Thee, blessed Three in One.
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 d (G), 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 by Christopher Wordsworth, first published in 1862. The tune, WOODBIRD, is Traditional German. This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1862): Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885)
- Melody (1700): Traditional German
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune WOODBIRD (traditional German); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885). 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.
Sung to the same tune: If God Himself Be for Me.
Questions about O Day of Rest and Gladness
What is the doh of O Day of Rest and Gladness?
In this version, in G major, 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 Day of Rest and Gladness start on?
It starts on d (G in G major), a pickup on the word “O” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is O Day of Rest and Gladness in the public domain?
Yes. Christopher Wordsworth died in 1885; the words were first published in 1862 and the music in 1700. 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.