Church Triumphant: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Church Triumphant, the hymn tune, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Bb): the solfa, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- Bb major
- Doh
- Bb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (F)
- Range
- m to f' (D to E♭, a ninth)
- Metre
- 8.8.8.8 — Long Metre (L.M.)
- Music
- James William Elliott
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune CHURCH TRIUMPHANT by James William Elliott (1833–1915). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| s- | d'-s-m'-r'- | d'-l-s-mf |
| s-ltd'-m'- | r'--d't-s- |
| l-l-t-m- | d'-d'-r'-s- |
| m'-r'-f'-l- | t--r'd'- |
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, easy to copy into your own notes or a WhatsApp message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is Bb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Bb major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Music (1874): James William Elliott (1833–1915)
Metre: 8.8.8.8 — Long Metre (L.M.). Hymns on this site in the same metre: 'Take Up Thy Cross', the Savior Said, 'Tis Midnight and on Olive's Brow, 'Twas on That Dark, That Doleful Night, All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night, Creator of the Stars of Night (Conditor Alme Siderum, Stylized), Creator of the Stars of Night (Conditor Alme Siderum), From Heaven Above to Earth I Come, From Nazareth.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune CHURCH TRIUMPHANT by James William Elliott (1833–1915). The CCEH gives its tunes as four-part scores; this page has the melody only, read from its MIDI file and checked against its incipit, and NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from the notes. It has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
Questions about Church Triumphant
What is the doh of Church Triumphant?
In this version, in Bb major, doh is Bb. 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 Church Triumphant start on?
It starts on s (F in Bb major), a pickup before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
What words can be sung to Church Triumphant?
Church Triumphant is in the metre 8.8.8.8 — Long Metre (L.M.): lines of 8, 8, 8, 8 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as 'Take Up Thy Cross', the Savior Said, 'Tis Midnight and on Olive's Brow, 'Twas on That Dark, That Doleful Night; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is Church Triumphant in the public domain?
Yes. James William Elliott died in 1915; the tune was first published in 1874. Everyone named died before 1955 and it was published before 1929, so the tune is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements of it can still be under copyright.