The Church’s One Foundation in Tonic Solfa
The Church’s One Foundation in Tonic Solfa to AURELIA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, five verses and a piano.
- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (F♯)
- Range
- t, to d' (C♯ to D, a ninth)
- Tune
- AURELIA
- Words
- Samuel John Stone
- Music
- Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Tune AURELIA by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876); words by Samuel John Stone (1839–1900). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| mThe- | mChurch--m’s-fone-mfoun-- | mda----rtion-dIs- |
| dJe--lsus-sChrist-fher- | mLord;-----fShe- |
| sis-d'His-d'new-tcre-- | ta----ltion-sBy- |
| fwa--ster-mand-dthe- | rWord:-----rFrom- |
| mheav’n-fHe-scame-land- | lsought---sher-d'To- |
| d'be--tHislho--mly- | fbride;-----rWith- |
| mHis-mown-fblood-mHe- | mbought---rher,-dAnd- |
| dfor-rher-dlife-t,He- | ddied.----- |
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 WhatsApp message to the choir.
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
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water and the Word:
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, ‘How long?’
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.
’Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace for evermore;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee.
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 word “The”, 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 John Stone, an English curate, wrote this hymn in 1866 as one of a set on the articles of the Apostles' Creed; this one is on 'the holy catholic Church'. The tune AURELIA was written by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, grandson of Charles Wesley, and first printed in 1864.
- Words (1866): Samuel John Stone (1839–1900)
- Melody (1864): Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876)
Tune AURELIA by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876); words by Samuel John Stone (1839–1900).
Sung to the same tune: O Father, All Creating.
Questions about The Church’s One Foundation
What is the doh of The Church’s One Foundation?
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 The Church’s One Foundation start on?
It starts on m (F♯ in D major), a pickup on the word “The” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is The Church’s One Foundation in the public domain?
Yes. Samuel John Stone died in 1900, Samuel Sebastian Wesley died in 1876; the words were first published in 1866 and the music in 1864. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.