O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above in Tonic Solfa
O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above in Tonic Solfa to LYONS, doh is Ab: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 5 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| s,O- | dheav--den--rly- | mKing,---dLook- | fdown-ffrom-ma-- | rbove!---s,As-- |
| dsist-dus-rto- | msing---fThy- | smer--,f_mcy-rand- | dlove:---s,So- |
| s,sweet--s,ly-l,o'er-- | t,flow--t,ing,-dSo- | rplen--rteous-mthe- | fstore,---s,Thou- |
| dstill-dart-rbe-- | mstow--ming,-fAnd- | sgiv--,f_ming-rus- | dmore.--- |
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- Key
- Ab major
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- s, (E♭)
- Range
- s, to s (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- LYONS
- Words
- Charles Wesley, John Wesley
Tune LYONS by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and William Gardiner (1770–1853); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788) or John Wesley (1703–1791). 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 Ab · 3/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Ab major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O heavenly King, Look down from above!
Assist us to sing Thy mercy and love:
So sweetly o'erflowing, So plenteous the store,
Thou still art bestowing, And giving us more.
O God of our life, We hallow thy name!
Our business and strife Is thee to proclaim;
Accept our thanksgiving For creating grace;
The living, the living Shall show forth thy praise.
Our Father and Lord, Almighty art thou;
Preserved by thy word, We worship thee now;
The bountiful donor Of all we enjoy,
Our tongues to thine honour, And lives we employ.
But O! above all, Thy kindness we praise,
From sin and from thrall Which saves the lost race;
Thy Son thou hast given The world to redeem,
And bring us to heaven Whose trust is in him.
Wherefore of thy love We sing and rejoice,
With angels above We lift up our voice:
Thy love each believer Shall gladly adore,
For ever and ever, When time is no more.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Ab 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, (E♭), on the word “O”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/4 means three 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. A cell split by a comma holds two quarter beats: d -,r is a dotted quaver and a semiquaver, d,r two semiquavers. That comma sits between two syllables; an octave mark sits small and low against its own letter (s,).
- 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
John Wesley printed these words in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780), hymn 199. They first appeared in a book he and his brother Charles published together, and the Collection's own index cannot say which of the two wrote them.
The book printed the words without tunes. They are in 10.10.11.11, and this page sets them to LYONS; any other 10.10.11.11 tune fits them as well.
- Words: Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
- Words: John Wesley (1703–1791)
- Music: Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
- Music (Sacred Melodies, 1815): William Gardiner (1770–1853)
Tune LYONS by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and William Gardiner (1770–1853); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788) or John Wesley (1703–1791).
Sung to the same tune: All Thanks to the Lamb, Who Gives Us to Meet, Appointed by Thee, We Meet in Thy Name, My Father, My God, I Long for Thy Love, O Worship the King, Omnipotent Lord, My Saviour and King, Thy Faithfulness, Lord, Each Moment We Find, Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim.
Questions about O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above
What is the doh of O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above?
In this version, in Ab major, doh is Ab. 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 Heavenly King, Look Down from Above start on?
It starts on s, (E♭ in Ab major), a pickup on the word “O” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s,.
Is O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above in the public domain?
Yes. Charles Wesley died in 1788, John Wesley died in 1791, Johann Michael Haydn died in 1806, William Gardiner died in 1853; the words were in print by 1780 and the music in 1815. 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.