O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea in Tonic Solfa
O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea in Tonic Solfa to HANFORD (SULLIVAN), doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 6 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sO---sLord-sof- | sheaven-----sand- |
| fearth---mand--- | rsea,------- |
| lTo---lThee-lall- | lpraise-----land- |
| sglo----fry--- | mbe;-----d'How- |
| d'shall-----d'we- | d'show---tour--- |
| llove---sto--- | fThee,------- |
| mWho------- | fgiv----rest--- |
| dall?------- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (B♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- HANFORD (SULLIVAN)
Tune HANFORD (SULLIVAN) by Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885). 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 · 4/4
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 Lord of heaven and earth and sea,
To Thee all praise and glory be;
How shall we show our love to Thee,
Who givest all?
Thou didst not spare Thine only Son,
But gav’st Him for a world undone,
And freely with that Blessed One
Thou givest all.
Thou giv’st the Spirit’s holy dower,
Spirit of Life and Love and Power,
And dost His sevenfold graces shower
Upon us all.
For souls redeemed, for sins forgiven,
For means of grace and hopes of heaven,
What can to Thee, O Lord, be given,
Who givest all?
We lose what on ourselves we spend;
We have, as treasure without end,
Whatever, Lord, to Thee we lend,
Who givest all.
Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee
Repaid a thousandfold will be;
Then gladly will we give to Thee,
Who givest all.
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. 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
Christopher Wordsworth wrote these words. They were printed in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (St. Louis, 1927), as hymn 357.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked 8.8.8.4, to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to HANFORD (SULLIVAN); any other 8.8.8.4 tune fits them as well.
- Words: Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885)
- Music (1874): Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900)
Tune HANFORD (SULLIVAN) by Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885).
Sung to the same tune: My God, My Father, While I Stray.
Questions about O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea
What is the doh of O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea?
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 Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea start on?
It starts on s (B♭ in Eb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea in the public domain?
Yes. Christopher Wordsworth died in 1885, Arthur Seymour Sullivan died in 1900; the words were in print by 1927 and the music in 1874. 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.