O, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink in Tonic Solfa
O, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink in Tonic Solfa to LANGRAN, doh is F: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mO,---dsend-rme- | mnot---sa---- |
| fway!-mfor-mI-rwould- | ddrink,------- |
| mEven---mI,-rthe- | sweak----rest,--- |
| mat-rthe-rfount-dof- | t,life;------- |
| dChide---dnot-dmy- | fsteps,---mthat--- |
| sven---mturernear-dthe- | t,brink,------- |
| dWea----rry-dand- | dfaint--ring-mfrom-fthe- |
| mdead----rly--- | dstrife.------- |
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- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (A)
- Range
- t, to s (E to C, a sixth)
- Tune
- LANGRAN
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- James Langran
Tune LANGRAN by James Langran (1835–1909); words by Anonymous. 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 F · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
O, send me not away! for I would drink,
Even I, the weakest, at the fount of life;
Chide not my steps, that venture near the brink,
Weary and fainting from the deadly strife.
Went I not forth undaunted and alone,
Strong in the majesty of human might?
Lo! I return, all wounded and forlorn,
My dream of glory lost in shades of night.
Was I not girded for the battle-field?
Bore I not helm of pride and glittering sword?
Behold the fragments of my broken shield,
And lend to me Thy heavenly armor, Lord!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum F 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 m (A).
- 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 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
These words were printed without an author's name in A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1848), as hymn 202, “The Broken Shield”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Tens (10.10.10.10), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to LANGRAN; any other Tens tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Music (1861): James Langran (1835–1909)
Tune LANGRAN by James Langran (1835–1909); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: Quiet from God! How Beautiful to Keep, Rise, Crowned with Light, Imperial Salem, Rise.
Questions about O, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink
What is the doh of O, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink?
In this version, in F major, doh is F. 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, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink start on?
It starts on m (A in F major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is O, Send Me Not Away! for I Would Drink in the public domain?
Yes. James Langran died in 1909; the words were in print by 1848 and the music in 1861. 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.