Sweet Is the Time of Spring in Tonic Solfa
Sweet Is the Time of Spring in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dSweet-disdthemtime-mof- | lspring,-----lWhen- |
| sna--dture's-fcharms-map-- | rpear;-----rThe- |
| mbirds-swith-lcease--sless- | feplea--msurer_ssing,-d'And- |
| thail-d'th'o--lpen--ling- | syear:-----sBut- |
| ssweet--mer-rfar-dthe- | lspring-----lOf- |
| lwis--fedom-mand-rof- | tgrace,-----tWhen- |
| d'child---trenlbless-sand- | fpraise-rtheir-mKing,-sWho- |
| floves-mthe-ryouth--rful- | drace.------- |
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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
- Anonymous
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); 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 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
Sweet is the time of spring,
When nature's charms appear;
The birds with ceaseless pleasure sing,
And hail the opening year:
But sweeter far the spring
Of wisdom and of grace,
When children bless and praise their King,
Who loves the youthful race.
Sweet is the dawn of day,
When light just streaks the sky;
When shades and darkness pass away,
And morning's beams are nigh:
But sweeter far the dawn
Of piety in youth;
When doubt and darkness are withdrawn,
Before the light of truth.
Sweet is the early dew,
Which gilds the mountain tops,
And decks each plant and flower we view,
With pearly, glittering drops;
But sweeter far the scene
On Zion's holy hill,
When there the dew of youth is seen
Its freshness to distil.
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
These words were printed without an author's name in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 745 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “Youth and the Spring-time”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to DIADEMATA; any other Short Metre Double tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Anonymous.
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, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, The Thing My God Doth Hate, We Mourn for Those Who Toil.
Questions about Sweet Is the Time of Spring
What is the doh of Sweet Is the Time of Spring?
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 Sweet Is the Time of Spring start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Sweet Is the Time of Spring in the public domain?
Yes. George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1853 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.