Winter Has a Joy for Me in Tonic Solfa
Winter Has a Joy for Me in Tonic Solfa to INNOCENTS, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 6 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mWin---fter | shas-d'a-tjoy-lfor- | sme,---dWhile--rthe |
| mSa--svior's-fcharms-mI- | rread,---mLow---fly, |
| smeek,-d'from-tblem--lish- | sfree,---dIn--rthe |
| msnow-fdrop's-mpen--rsive- | dhead.--- |
Got your choir's recording? Get it in solfa →
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
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- INNOCENTS
- Words
- William Cowper
- Music
- French Melody, 13th cent., ascr., George Frederick Handel, The Parish Choir, London
Tune INNOCENTS by ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined); words by William Cowper (1731–1800). 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
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
Winter has a joy for me,
While the Savior's charms I read,
Lowly, meek, from blemish free,
In the snow-drop's pensive head.
Spring returns, and brings along
Life-invigorating suns:
Hark! the turtle's plaintive song,
Seems to speak his dying groans!
Summer has a thousand charms,
All expressive of his worth;
'Tis his sun that lights and warms,
His the air that cools the earth.
What, has autumn left to say
Nothing, of a Savior's grace?
Yes, the beams of milder day
Tell me of his smiling face.
Light appears with early dawn
While the sun makes haste to rise,
See his bleeding beauties, drawn
On the blushes of the skies.
Evening, with a silent pace,
Slowly moving in the west,
Shows an emblem of his grace,
Points to an eternal rest.
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 m (F♯), on the first syllable of “Winter”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- 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. 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
William Cowper wrote these words. They were printed in Olney Hymns (London, 1779), Book III, hymn 83, “I will praise the Lord at all times”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sevens (7.7.7.7), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to INNOCENTS; any other Sevens tune fits them as well.
- Words: William Cowper (1731–1800)
- Melody: French Melody, 13th cent.
- Music (1728): ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined)
- Melody (1850): The Parish Choir, London
Tune INNOCENTS by ascr., George Frederick Handel (died undefined); words by William Cowper (1731–1800).
Sung to the same tune: Day by Day the Manna Fell, Forest Beasts, That Live by Prey, God of Mercy, Hear Our Prayer, Hail, All Hail the Joyful Morn, Hail, Thou Blessed Cross, All Hail, Hark, My Soul! It Is the Lord, In the Dark of Early Morn, In Thy Courts Let Peace Be Found, Lord, My Times Are in Thy Hand, Peace! the Welcome Sound Proclaim, Seems It in My Anguish Lone, Sinners, Turn; Why Will Ye Die, Slowly, by God's Hand Unfurled, Softly Fades the Twilight Ray, Songs of Praise the Angels Sang, They, Who on the Lord Rely, To Thy Temple I Repair, When Before Thy Throne We Kneel.
Questions about Winter Has a Joy for Me
What is the doh of Winter Has a Joy for Me?
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 Winter Has a Joy for Me start on?
It starts on m (F♯ in D major), a pickup on the first syllable of “Winter” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is Winter Has a Joy for Me in the public domain?
Yes. William Cowper died in 1800, ascr., George Frederick Handel died in undefined; the words were in print by 1779 and the music in 1728. 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.