When Overwhelm'd with Grief in Tonic Solfa
When Overwhelm'd with Grief in Tonic Solfa to BOYLSTON, doh is C: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sWhen- | mo-fver-swhelm'd-lwith- | sgrief---d'My- | d'hearttwith-lin-lme- | sdies,---sHelp-- |
| mlessfandsfar-sfrom- | lalltre-d'lief-tTo- | d'heavenlIslift-smine- | seyes.--- |
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- Key
- C major
- Doh
- C
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- s (G)
- Range
- m to d' (E to C, a sixth)
- Tune
- BOYLSTON
- Words
- Isaac Watts
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune BOYLSTON by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Isaac Watts (1674–1748). 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 C · 3/4
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
When overwhelm'd with grief
My heart within me dies,
Helpless and far from all relief
To heaven I lift mine eyes.
O lead me to the rock
That's high above my head,
And make the covert of thy wings
My shelter and my shade.
Within thy presence, Lord,
For ever I'll abide;
Thou art the tower of my defence,
The refuge where I hide.
Thou givest me the lot
Of those that fear thy Name;
If endless life be their reward,
I shall possess the same.
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 s (G), on the word “When”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/4 means three 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 m f 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
Isaac Watts wrote these words for The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (1719): Psalm 61, headed “Safety in God”.
Watts' psalms were printed without tunes and sung to any tune of their metre, Short Metre (6.6.8.6). This page sets the words to BOYLSTON; any other Short Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words (1719): Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
- Music (1832): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune BOYLSTON by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Isaac Watts (1674–1748). The Open Hymnal Project publishes this tune as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Sung to the same tune: 'Tis God the Spirit Leads, A Charge to Keep I Have, And Is There, Lord, a Rest, And Will the Judge Descend, Behold the Throne of Grace, Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Boylston), Come to the Land of Peace, Come, Holy Spirit, Come, Come, Ye That Love the Lord, God of Eternal Love, God of the Prophets' Power, Hail to the Sabbath Day, How Beauteous Are Their Feet, How Pleasing, Lord! to See, Hush the Loud Cannon's Roar, I Lift My Soul to God, In God's Eternity, Is This the Kind Return, Let Every Ear Attend, Not All the Blood of Beasts, Not in the Name of Pride, Not What These Hands Have Done, Now at This Evening Hour, O Come and Dwell in Me, O God, My Strength, My Hope, O Lord, Thy Perfect Word, O, Cease, My Wandering Soul, Out of the Depths of Woe, Stand, Soldier of the Cross, The Day Is Past and Gone, The Lord Declares His Will, The Savior Hides His Face, Thou Must Be Born Again, To Him Who Children Blest, To Keep the Lamp Alive, When on the Cruel Cross, When Thou Shalt Come, O Lord, Where Is Thy Sting, O Death, Ye Sons of Earth, Arise.
Questions about When Overwhelm'd with Grief
What is the doh of When Overwhelm'd with Grief?
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 When Overwhelm'd with Grief start on?
It starts on s (G in C major), a pickup on the word “When” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is When Overwhelm'd with Grief in the public domain?
Yes. Isaac Watts died in 1748, Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were first published in 1719 and the music in 1832. 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.