O God, in Mercy Hear in Tonic Solfa
O God, in Mercy Hear in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 5 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dO-dGod,dinmmer--mcy- | lhear,-----lI- |
| slift-dmy-fcry-mto- | rThee,-----rAnd- |
| mlet-sThy-lgra--scious- | fehelp-mber_ssent-d'In- |
| tmy-d'per--lplex--li-- | sty;-----sBut- |
| sThou-mart-rfar-da-- | lway,-----lAnd- |
| lI-feam-mfilled-rwith- | tshame,-----tI- |
| d'can---tnotlsee-sThy- | fbless--red-mface,-sAnd- |
| ffear-mto-rname-rThy- | dname.------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- DIADEMATA
- Words
- Traditional Greek, John Brownlie
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925). 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 D · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in D major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O God, in mercy hear,
I lift my cry to Thee,
And let Thy gracious help be sent
In my perplexity;
But Thou art far away,
And I am filled with shame,
I cannot see Thy blessed face,
And fear to name Thy name.
And now a sense of guilt
Inspires me with dismay, —
I know that none on earth can take
That awful load away;
'Tis mine, the sin, 'tis mine,
And mine the guilt to bear,
The awful burden of the blame,
The cloud of dark despair.
Is there no balm to heal?
No pity that can bless? —
O God, Who art so far away,
Be near in my distress;
And heed the tears I shed,
And hear my woeful cry;
And since there is no hand to help,
Come Thou in mercy nigh.
'Twas then a voice I heard, —
It came in winning tone,
Across my night, from far away,
To where I prayed alone;
It told me of a love,
That sought me long ago,
And on the cross my burden bore,
Of sin, and guilt, and woe.
O blessed cross of Christ!
Thou hast my need supplied,
For there, upon thy outstretched arms
I see the Crucified;
And He has sin to bear,
That none can call His own, —
O Christ, the sin and guilt Thou bor'st,
Are mine, are mine, alone.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum D 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 (D).
- 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 fe. 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
John Brownlie translated these words from the Greek service books for Hymns from the Morningland (Paisley, 1911).
The book printed the words without tunes. They are in Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6), and this page sets them to DIADEMATA; any other Short Metre Double tune fits them as well.
- Words: Traditional Greek
- Translated (1911): John Brownlie (1857–1925)
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925).
Sung to the same tune: Ah Whither Should I Go, Ah, When Shall I Awake, And Am I Born to Die, Crown Him with Many Crowns, Equip Me for the War, Father of Boundless Grace, Gracious Redeemer, Shake, Great Source of Life and Light, Hark! Hark! with Harps of Gold, I Want a Sober Mind, I Was a Wandering Sheep, I Will Not Yield My Sword, In Fellowship, Alone, It Is the Hour of Prayer, Jesu, We Look to Thee, Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, Lord, When at Thy Command, My God, My Strength, My Hope, My Sin Was Very Great, O That I Could Repent, O Thou Who Wouldst Not Have, O Unexhausted Grace, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, Sweet Is the Time of Spring, The Thing My God Doth Hate, We Mourn for Those Who Toil.
Questions about O God, in Mercy Hear
What is the doh of O God, in Mercy Hear?
In this version, in D major, doh is D. 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 God, in Mercy Hear start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is O God, in Mercy Hear in the public domain?
Yes. John Brownlie died in 1925, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1911 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.