O, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken in Tonic Solfa
O, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken in Tonic Solfa to HENLEY, doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sO,---mhe-mwhom- | mJe----rsus--- |
| dloved-dhas-rtru--rly- | mspo----dken!--- |
| sThe---mholi--mer- | mwor----dship,--- |
| rwhich-dGod-rdeigns-mto- | dbless,------- |
| rRe----rstores-mthe- | flost,---rand--- |
| mheals-mthe-mspir--fit- | sbro----mken,--- |
| sAnd---mfeeds-mthe- | mwid----dow--- |
| rand-dthe-rfa--mther-- | dless.------- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 2/2
- Starts on
- s (B♭)
- Range
- d to s (E♭ to B♭, a fifth)
- Tune
- HENLEY
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Tune HENLEY by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). 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 Eb · 2/2
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Eb major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O, he whom Jesus loved has truly spoken!
The holier worship, which God deigns to bless,
Restores the lost, and heals the spirit-broken,
And feeds the widow and the fatherless.
Then, brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother!
For where love dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other;
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.
Follow, with reverent steps, the great example
Of him whose holy work was doing good:
So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple,
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.
Thus shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangor
Of wild war-music o'er the earth shall cease;
Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger,
And in its ashes plant the tree of peace.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Eb 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 (B♭).
- Count the time. 2/2 means two minim 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 — only 5 different notes, so it is a good one for a choir new to solfa. 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 Greenleaf Whittier wrote these words. They were printed in the supplement of the 1866 edition of A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1866), as hymn 578, “True Worship and Undefiled”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Elevens and Tens (11.10.11.10), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to HENLEY; any other Elevens and Tens tune fits them as well.
- Words: John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
- Music (1854): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Tune HENLEY by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892).
Sung to the same tune: Come, Ye Disconsolate, Where'er Ye Languish.
Questions about O, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken
What is the doh of O, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken?
In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken start on?
It starts on s (B♭ in Eb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is O, He Whom Jesus Loved Has Truly Spoken in the public domain?
Yes. John Greenleaf Whittier died in 1892, Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1866 and the music in 1854. 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.