What Wondrous Love Is This? in Tonic Solfa
What Wondrous Love Is This? in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- C major
- Doh
- C
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- r (D)
- Range
- d to r' (C to D, a ninth)
- Tune
- WONDROUS LOVE
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Traditional American
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune WONDROUS LOVE (traditional American); words by Anonymous. Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| rWhat---rwon--ddrous- | mlove-sis-lthis;--- |
| sO-mmy-rsoul!--- | rO-dmy-msoul!--- |
| lWhat---d'won--tdrous- | llove-sis-lthis;--- |
| sO-mmy-rsoul!--- | sWhat---lwon--sdrous- |
| llove-d'is-r'this;--- | r'That---d'caused-lthe- |
| lLords_mof-rbliss--- | rTo---rbear-dthe- |
| mdread--sful-lcurse,--- | sFor-mmy-rsoul,--- |
| rFor-dmy-msoul,--- | lTo---d'bear-tthe- |
| ldread--sful-lcurse,--- | sFor-mmy-rsoul?--- |
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 WhatsApp message to the choir.
Doh is C · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in C major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
What wondrous love is this; O my soul! O my soul!
What wondrous love is this; O my soul!
What wondrous love is this; That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse, For my soul, For my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse, For my soul?
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down
When I was sinking down, sinking down
When I was sinking down, Beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown, For my soul! For my soul!
Christ laid aside His crown, For my soul!
Ye winged seraphs fly! Bear the news, Bear the news,
Ye winged seraphs fly! Bear the news,
Ye winged seraphs fly! Like comets through the sky,
Fill vast eternity with the news, with the news.
Fill vast eternity with the news.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb, And to the Great I AM,
While millions join the theme, I will sing. I will sing.
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
Come friends of Zion's King, Join the praise, Join the praise,
Come friends of Zion's King, Join the praise,
Come friends of Zion's King, With hearts and voices sing,
And strike each tuneful string In His praise! In His praise!
And strike each tuneful string In His praise!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum C 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 r (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 s l t. 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
The words are anonymous, in print by 1811. The tune, WONDROUS LOVE, is Traditional American. This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1811): Anonymous
- Melody: Traditional American
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune WONDROUS LOVE (traditional American); words by Anonymous. The Open Hymnal Project publishes this hymn as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Questions about What Wondrous Love Is This?
What is the doh of What Wondrous Love Is This??
In this version, in C major, doh is C. 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 What Wondrous Love Is This? start on?
It starts on r (D in C major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to r.
Is What Wondrous Love Is This? in the public domain?
Yes. the words were first published in 1811 and the music in 1916. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.