Dulce Domum: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Dulce Domum, the hymn tune by Robert S. Ambrose, in Tonic Solfa (doh is D): the solfa line by line, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.

Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir

Key
D major
Doh
D
Time
4/4
Starts on
s (A)
Range
d to d' (D to D, an octave)
Metre
6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.)
Music
Robert S. Ambrose
Also called
Ambrose

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune DULCE DOMUM by Robert S. Ambrose (1824–1908). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is D4/4
s-sss-s-s-------
l-lls-m-r-------
m-mmf-fe-s-d'-d'-tl
s-drm-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 D · 4/4

| s - s s s - s - | s - - - - - - - |
| l - l l s - m - | r - - - - - - - |
| m - m m f - fe - | s - d' - d' - t l |
| s - d r m - r - | d - - - - - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in D major.

About the tune

  • Music (1876): Robert S. Ambrose (1824–1908)

Metre: 6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.). Hymns on this site in the same metre: Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Boylston), Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Dennis), Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Lord Jesus Think on Me, The Advent of Our God, Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here, We Know Thee Who Thou Art, Within the Father's House.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune DULCE DOMUM by Robert S. Ambrose (1824–1908). 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 Dulce Domum

What is the doh of Dulce Domum?

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 Dulce Domum start on?

It starts on s (A in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.

What words can be sung to Dulce Domum?

Dulce Domum is in the metre 6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.): lines of 6, 6, 8, 6 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Boylston), Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Dennis), Breathe on Me, Breath of God; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Dulce Domum in the public domain?

Yes. Robert S. Ambrose died in 1908; the tune was first published in 1876. 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.