Lincoln: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Lincoln, the hymn tune by Thomas Ravenscroft, in Tonic Solfa (doh is G): 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
G major
Doh
G
Time
4/4
Starts on
d (G)
Range
l, to s (E to D, a seventh)
Metre
8.6.8.6 — Common Metre (C.M.)
Music
Thomas Ravenscroft

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune LINCOLN by Thomas Ravenscroft (fl. 1621). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is G4/4
d---r-m-r-d-d-t,-
d---d---s-f-f-m-
f-------f---m-r-
de-r-m-m-r---d---
l,-d-d-t,-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 G · 4/4

| d - - - r - m - | r - d - d - t, - |
| d - - - d - - - | s - f - f - m - |
| f - - - - - - - | f - - - m - r - |
| de - r - m - m - | r - - - d - - - |
| l, - d - d - t, - | d - - - - - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in G major.

About the tune

  • Arranged (1621): W. Harrison (fl. 1621)
  • Music (Psalter, 1621): Thomas Ravenscroft (fl. 1621)

Metre: 8.6.8.6 — Common Metre (C.M.). Hymns on this site in the same metre: Almighty God Your Word Is Cast, Almighty Lord, Before Thy Throne, Hark the Glad Sound, Lamp of Our Feet, Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds, Lord as to Thy Dear Cross, Lord While for All Mankind We Pray, Lord Who Throughout These Forty Days.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune LINCOLN by Thomas Ravenscroft (fl. 1621). 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. The arranger named above set CCEH's harmony, which is not shown here.

New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.

Questions about Lincoln

What is the doh of Lincoln?

In this version, in G major, doh is G. 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 Lincoln start on?

It starts on d (G in G major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.

What words can be sung to Lincoln?

Lincoln is in the metre 8.6.8.6 — Common Metre (C.M.): lines of 8, 6, 8, 6 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Almighty God Your Word Is Cast, Almighty Lord, Before Thy Throne, Hark the Glad Sound; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Lincoln in the public domain?

Yes. W. Harrison's work dates from 1621, Thomas Ravenscroft's work dates from 1621; the tune was first published in 1621. 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.

More by Thomas Ravenscroft

Everything by Thomas Ravenscroft (2 hymn tunes)