O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go in Tonic Solfa
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go in Tonic Solfa to ST. MARGARET: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the four verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| s,O- | s,Love--s,thats,wiltl,nott,letdme | dgo,---t,I-t,rest- |
| t,my--t,wea-t,rydsoulrinmthee | s_---fI-fgive- |
| mthee--mbackmtherlifedIt,owe | r_---dThat-din- |
| dthine--do-dceanddepthst,itsl,flow | s,_--l,Mayt,rich--der,- |
| mfull------rer- | dbe.----- |
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- Key
- Ab major
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s, (E♭)
- Range
- s, to s (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- ST. MARGARET
- Words
- George Matheson
- Music
- Albert L. Peace
Tune ST. MARGARET by Albert L. Peace (1844–1912); words by George Matheson (1842–1906). 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 · 4/4
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 Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
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. 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
George Matheson wrote the words in 1882; they first appeared in the Church of Scotland magazine Life and Work in 1883. Albert Lister Peace set them to music for the Scottish Hymnal of 1884.
- Words (1882): George Matheson (1842–1906)
- Music (1884): Albert L. Peace (1844–1912)
Tune ST. MARGARET by Albert L. Peace (1844–1912); words by George Matheson (1842–1906).
Questions about O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
What is the doh of O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go?
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 Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go 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 Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go in the public domain?
Yes. George Matheson died in 1906, Albert L. Peace died in 1912; the words were first published in 1883 and the music in 1884. 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.