O Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading in Tonic Solfa
O Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading in Tonic Solfa to PERFECT LOVE, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dO---mLight-sof- | slight!---swhen--- |
| soth--ser-d'lights-tare- | tfa----lding,--- |
| rThen---min-fmy- | ssoul---mwith--- |
| dheav--denly-mbright--rness- | t,shine;------- |
| d"Let---mthere-sbe- | slight!"---sthe--- |
| snight-sand-d'fear-tup-- | tbraid----ling,--- |
| lSpeak---sThou-fthe- | mword-sand-fsend-rthe- |
| l,Light---t,Di---- | dvine.------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- l, to d' (B to D, a tenth)
- Tune
- PERFECT LOVE
- Words
- Traditional Greek, John Brownlie
- Music
- Joseph Barnby
Tune PERFECT LOVE by Joseph Barnby (1838–1896); 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 Light of light! when other lights are fading,
Then in my soul with heavenly brightness shine;
"Let there be light!" the night and fear upbraiding,
Speak Thou the word and send the Light Divine.
O Joy of joy! when other joys are sighing,
Sing to my soul and bid its sadness flee;
And when the songs my bitter tears are drying,
Come with Thy gladness, and rejoice with me.
O Love of love! when other loves are dying,
And hearts grow cold, and eyes that lured me frown;
Come to my heart, Thou Love, all hate defying,
Full of all pity to our world come down.
O Bliss of bliss! when earth and all its treasures
Shrink from my grasp, and leave me poor and sad;
May I with Christ fill up my empty measures,
And in His presence reap the hopes I had.
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. 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 Greek Office Books (Paisley, 1904).
The book printed the words without tunes. They are in Elevens and Tens (11.10.11.10), and this page sets them to PERFECT LOVE; any other Elevens and Tens tune fits them as well.
- Words: Traditional Greek
- Translated (1904): John Brownlie (1857–1925)
- Music (1889): Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
Tune PERFECT LOVE by Joseph Barnby (1838–1896); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925).
Sung to the same tune: O Perfect Love, Weep Thou, O Mourner! but in Lamentation.
Questions about O Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading
What is the doh of O Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading?
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 Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is O Light of Light! When Other Lights Are Fading in the public domain?
Yes. John Brownlie died in 1925, Joseph Barnby died in 1896; the words were in print by 1904 and the music in 1889. 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.