Softly Fades the Twilight Ray in Tonic Solfa
Softly Fades the Twilight Ray in Tonic Solfa to INNOCENTS, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mSoft---fly | sfades-d'the-ttwi--llight- | sray---dOf--rthe |
| mho--sly-fSab--mbath- | rday;---mGen---ftly |
| sas-d'life's-tset--lting- | ssun;---dWhen--rthe |
| mChrist--fian's-mcourse-ris- | drun.--- |
Got your choir's recording? Get it in solfa →
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (F♯)
- Range
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- INNOCENTS
- Words
- Samuel Francis Smith
- Music
- French Melody, 13th cent., ascr., George Frederick Handel, The Parish Choir, London
Tune INNOCENTS by ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined); words by Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895). 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
Softly fades the twilight ray
Of the holy Sabbath day;
Gently as life's setting sun;
When the Christian's course is run.
Night her solemn mantle spreads
O'er the earth, as daylight fades;
All things tell of calm repose
At the holy Sabbath's close.
Peace is on the world abroad;
'Tis the holy peace of God, —
Symbol of the peace within,
When the spirit rests from sin.
Still the Spirit lingers near,
Where the evening worshipper
Seeks communion with the skies,
Pressing onward to the prize.
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 m (F♯), on the first syllable of “Softly”, 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
Samuel Francis Smith wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 79 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “Sabbath Evening”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sevens (7.7.7.7), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to INNOCENTS; any other Sevens tune fits them as well.
- Words: Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895)
- Melody: French Melody, 13th cent.
- Music (1728): ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined)
- Melody (1850): The Parish Choir, London
Tune INNOCENTS by ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined); words by Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895).
Sung to the same tune: Day by Day the Manna Fell, Forest Beasts, That Live by Prey, God of Mercy, Hear Our Prayer, Hail, All Hail the Joyful Morn, Hail, Thou Blessed Cross, All Hail, Hark, My Soul! It Is the Lord, In the Dark of Early Morn, In Thy Courts Let Peace Be Found, Lord, My Times Are in Thy Hand, Peace! the Welcome Sound Proclaim, Seems It in My Anguish Lone, Sinners, Turn; Why Will Ye Die, Slowly, by God's Hand Unfurled, Songs of Praise the Angels Sang, They, Who on the Lord Rely, To Thy Temple I Repair, When Before Thy Throne We Kneel, Winter Has a Joy for Me.
Questions about Softly Fades the Twilight Ray
What is the doh of Softly Fades the Twilight Ray?
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 Softly Fades the Twilight Ray start on?
It starts on m (F♯ in D major), a pickup on the first syllable of “Softly” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is Softly Fades the Twilight Ray in the public domain?
Yes. Samuel Francis Smith died in 1895, ascr., George Frederick Handel died in undefined; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1728. 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.