Where Is Thy Sting, O Death in Tonic Solfa
Where Is Thy Sting, O Death in Tonic Solfa to BOYLSTON, doh is C: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sWhere- | misfthyssting,-lO- | sdeath?---d'Grave!- | d'wheretthylvic--lto-- | sry?---sThe- |
| mclodfmayssleep-sin- | ldusttbe-d'neath,-tThe- | d'spir-litswill-sbe- | sfree!--- |
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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
- John Bowring
- 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 John Bowring (1792–1872). 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
Where is thy sting, O death?
Grave! where thy victory?
The clod may sleep in dust beneath,
The spirit will be free!
Both man and time have power
O'er suffering, dying men;
But death arrives, and in that hour
The soul is freed again.
Then, death, where is thy sting?
And where thy victory, grave?
O'er your dark bourn the soul will spring
To Him who loves to save.
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 “Where”, 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
John Bowring wrote these words. They were printed in A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1848), as hymn 349, “O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Short Metre (6.6.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to BOYLSTON; any other Short Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: John Bowring (1792–1872)
- 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 John Bowring (1792–1872). 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 Overwhelm'd with Grief, When Thou Shalt Come, O Lord, Ye Sons of Earth, Arise.
Questions about Where Is Thy Sting, O Death
What is the doh of Where Is Thy Sting, O Death?
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 Where Is Thy Sting, O Death start on?
It starts on s (G in C major), a pickup on the word “Where” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Where Is Thy Sting, O Death in the public domain?
Yes. John Bowring died in 1872, Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1848 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.