I Love Thee: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
I Love Thee, the hymn tune, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Eb): the solfa line by line, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- s, (B♭)
- Range
- s, to d' (B♭ to E♭)
- Metre
- 11.11.11.11
- Music
- Anon., Christian Harmony (published by Jeremiah Ingalls)
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune I LOVE THEE (Anon., Christian Harmony (published by Jeremiah Ingalls)). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| s,- | d-d-m- | s-s-ls | m-d-r- | m---s,- |
| d-d-m- | s-s-ls | m-d-r- | d---s- |
| s-m-s- | d'-l-l- | s-m-d- | s---s,- |
| d-d-m- | s-s-ls | m-d-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.
Doh is Eb · 3/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Eb major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Melody: Anon.
- Melody (1805): Christian Harmony (published by Jeremiah Ingalls)
Metre: 11.11.11.11. Hymns on this site in the same metre: How Firm a Foundation, Take Thou My Hand and Lead Me.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune I LOVE THEE (Anon., Christian Harmony (published by Jeremiah Ingalls)). 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 I Love Thee
What is the doh of I Love Thee?
In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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 I Love Thee start on?
It starts on s, (B♭ in Eb major), a pickup before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s,.
What words can be sung to I Love Thee?
I Love Thee is in the metre 11.11.11.11: lines of 11, 11, 11, 11 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as How Firm a Foundation, Take Thou My Hand and Lead Me; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is I Love Thee in the public domain?
Yes. the tune was first published in 1805. 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.