Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky): hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky), the hymn tune, in Tonic Solfa (doh is D): 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
D major
Doh
D
Time
4/4
Starts on
m (F♯)
Range
t, to d' (C♯ to D, a ninth)
Metre
8.7.8.7
Music
Dmitri S. Bortniansky

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune VESPER HYMN (BORTNIANSKY) by Dmitri S. Bortniansky (fl. 1818). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is D4/4
m-s-f-s-m--sr-s-
m-s-f-r-d--t,d---
m-s-f-s-m--sr-s-
m-s-f-r-d-t,-d---
d'--td'-s-f-r-m-s-
d'--td'-s-f-r-d---
d--dd-ddr--rr-r-
d--dd-mrd-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 D · 4/4

| m - s - f - s - | m - - s r - s - |
| m - s - f - r - | d - - t, d - - - |
| m - s - f - s - | m - - s r - s - |
| m - s - f - r - | d - t, - d - - - |
| d' - - t d' - s - | f - r - m - s - |
| d' - - t d' - s - | f - r - d - - - |
| d - - d d - d d | r - - r r - r - |
| d - - d d - m r | d - t, - d - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in D major.

About the tune

  • Music (Selection of Popular National Airs, 1818): Dmitri S. Bortniansky (fl. 1818)

Metre: 8.7.8.7. Hymns on this site in the same metre: Jesus, Tender Shepherd, Hear Me.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune VESPER HYMN (BORTNIANSKY) by Dmitri S. Bortniansky (fl. 1818). 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 Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky)

What is the doh of Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky)?

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 Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky) start on?

It starts on m (F♯ in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.

What words can be sung to Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky)?

Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky) is in the metre 8.7.8.7: lines of 8, 7, 8, 7 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Jesus, Tender Shepherd, Hear Me; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Vesper Hymn (Bortniansky) in the public domain?

Yes. Dmitri S. Bortniansky's work dates from 1818; the tune was first published in 1818. 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.