We Mourn for Those Who Toil in Tonic Solfa

We Mourn for Those Who Toil in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.

The solfa with the words

Doh is D4/4

dWe-dmourndformthose-mwho-

ltoil,-----lThe-

sslave-dwho-fploughs-mthe-

rmain,-----rOr-

mhim-swho-lhope--sless-

fetills-mther_ssoil-d'Be--

tneath-d'the-lstripe-land-

schain:-----sFor-

sthose-mwho,-rin-dthe-

lrace,-----lO'er--

lwea--feried-mand-run--

tblest,-----tA-

d'host--toflrest--sless-

fphan--rtoms-mchase;-sWhy-

fmourn-mfor-rthose-rwho-

drest?-------

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Key: D major
Doh: D
Time: 4/4
Starts on: d (D)
Range: d to d' (D to D, an octave)
Tune: DIADEMATA
Words: Lydia Sigourney
Music: George Job Elvey

Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865). Sources and licences.

The solfa line by line

The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.

Doh is D · 4/4

| d - d d m - m - We mourn for those who| l - - - - - l - |toil, The

| s - d - f - m - slave who ploughs the| r - - - - - r - |main, Or

| m - s - l - s - him who hopeless| fe - m r s - d' - |tills the soil Be-

| t - d' - l - l - neath the stripe and| s - - - - - s - |chain: For

| s - m - r - d - those who, in the| l - - - - - l - |race, O'er-

| l - fe - m - r - wearied and un-| t - - - - - t - |blest, A

| d' - - t l - s - host of restless| f - r - m - s - |phantoms chase; Why

| f - m - r - r - mourn for those who| d - - - - - - - |rest?

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in D major, with the first verse under the notes.

The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.

The words

We mourn for those who toil,
The slave who ploughs the main,
Or him who hopeless tills the soil
Beneath the stripe and chain:
For those who, in the race,
O'erwearied and unblest,
A host of restless phantoms chase; —
Why mourn for those who rest?

We mourn for those who sin?
Bound in the tempter's snare,
Whom syren pleasure beckons in
To prisons of despair;
Whose hearts, by passions torn,
Are wrecked on folly's shore; —
But why in sorrow should we mourn
For those who sin no more?

We mourn for those who weep;
Whom stern afflictions bend
With anguish o'er the lowly sleep
Of lover or of friend:
But they to whom the sway
Of pain and grief is o'er,
Whose tears our God hath wiped away,
O mourn for them no more!

How to sing it from the solfa

Find doh first. Play or hum D and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
Pitch the first note. The tune starts on d (D).
Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t and the chromatic fe. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.

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

About the hymn

Lydia Sigourney wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 570 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “"Weep for yourselves, and for your children."”.

The book printed the words without tunes, marked Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to DIADEMATA; any other Short Metre Double tune fits them as well.

Words: Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865)
Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)

Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865).

Sung to the same tune: Ah Whither Should I Go, Ah, When Shall I Awake, And Am I Born to Die, Crown Him with Many Crowns, Equip Me for the War, Father of Boundless Grace, Gracious Redeemer, Shake, Great Source of Life and Light, Hark! Hark! with Harps of Gold, I Want a Sober Mind, I Was a Wandering Sheep, I Will Not Yield My Sword, In Fellowship, Alone, It Is the Hour of Prayer, Jesu, We Look to Thee, Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, Lord, When at Thy Command, My God, My Strength, My Hope, My Sin Was Very Great, O God, in Mercy Hear, O That I Could Repent, O Thou Who Wouldst Not Have, O Unexhausted Grace, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, Sweet Is the Time of Spring, The Thing My God Doth Hate.

Questions about We Mourn for Those Who Toil

What is the doh of We Mourn for Those Who Toil?

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 We Mourn for Those Who Toil start on?

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

Is We Mourn for Those Who Toil in the public domain?

Yes. Lydia Sigourney died in 1865, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1868. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.