Soldiers of Christ, Arise in Tonic Solfa
Soldiers of Christ, Arise in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the three verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dSol--ddiersdofmChrist,-ma-- | lrise,-----lAnd- |
| sput-dyour-far--mmour- | ron,-----rStrong- |
| min-sthe-lstrength-swhich- | feGod-msup-r_splies-d'Through- |
| tHis-d'e--lter--lnal- | sSon.-----sStrong- |
| sin-mthe-rLord-dof- | lhosts,-----lAnd- |
| lin-feHis-mmight--ry- | tpow’r,-----tWho- |
| d'in--tthelstrength-sof- | fJe--rsus-mtrusts-sIs- |
| fmore-mthan-rcon--rquer-- | dor.------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- DIADEMATA
- Words
- Charles Wesley
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788). 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
Soldiers of Christ, arise,
And put your armour on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son.
Strong in the Lord of hosts,
And in His mighty pow’r,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
Is more than conqueror.
Stand then in His great might,
With all His strength endued,
And take, to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God;
That, having all things done,
And all your conflicts passed,
Ye may o’ercome through Christ alone,
And stand entire at last.
Leave no unguarded place,
No weakness of the soul,
Take every virtue, every grace,
And fortify the whole.
From strength to strength go on,
Wrestle and fight and pray,
Tread all the pow’rs of darkness down
And win the well-fought day.
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 and the chromatic fe. 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
Charles Wesley’s words on Ephesians 6 were published in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1749, sixteen verses long; hymn books sing a few of them. Many Nigerian books set them to FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH or ST. ETHELWALD; here they are sung to George J. Elvey’s DIADEMATA (1868), which fits the same metre.
- Words (1749): Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788).
Sung to the same tune: Ah Whither Should I Go, Ah, When Shall I Awake, And Am I Born to Die, Crown Him with Many Crowns, Equip Me for the War, Father of Boundless Grace, Gracious Redeemer, Shake, Great Source of Life and Light, Hark! Hark! with Harps of Gold, I Want a Sober Mind, I Was a Wandering Sheep, I Will Not Yield My Sword, In Fellowship, Alone, It Is the Hour of Prayer, Jesu, We Look to Thee, Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, Lord, When at Thy Command, My God, My Strength, My Hope, My Sin Was Very Great, O God, in Mercy Hear, O That I Could Repent, O Thou Who Wouldst Not Have, O Unexhausted Grace, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, Sweet Is the Time of Spring, The Thing My God Doth Hate, We Mourn for Those Who Toil.
Questions about Soldiers of Christ, Arise
What is the doh of Soldiers of Christ, Arise?
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 Soldiers of Christ, Arise start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Soldiers of Christ, Arise in the public domain?
Yes. Charles Wesley died in 1788, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were first published in 1749 and the music in 1868. 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.