With Thy Pure Dews and Rains in Tonic Solfa
With Thy Pure Dews and Rains in Tonic Solfa to DORT, doh is C: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dWith-mthy-dpure- | sdews--landsrains,- | sWash-tout,-sO- | r'God!--m'ther'stains- |
| d'From-tA--lfric's- | sshore;----- | sAnd-mwhile-fher- | spalm--ltreessbud,- |
| sLet-mnot-fher- | schil---ldren'ssblood,- | sWith-d'her-r'broad- | m'Ni---f'ger'sm'flood,- |
| r'Be-d'min--tgled- | d'more.----- |
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- Key
- C major
- Doh
- C
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- d (C)
- Range
- d to f' (C to F)
- Tune
- DORT
- Words
- John Pierpont
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Tune DORT by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by John Pierpont (1785–1866). 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
With thy pure dews and rains,
Wash out, O God! the stains
From Afric's shore;
And while her palm trees bud,
Let not her children's blood,
With her broad Niger's flood,
Be mingled more.
Quench, righteous God! the thirst,
That Congo's sons hath cursed —
The thirst for gold;
Shall not thy thunders speak,
Where Mammon's altars reek,
Where maids and matrons shriek,
Bound, bleeding, sold?
Hear'st thou, O God! those chains,
That clank on Freedom's plains,
By Christians wrought?
Those who these chains have worn,
Christians from home have torn,
Christians have hither borne,
Christians have bought!
Lord! wilt thou not, at last,
From thine own image cast
Away all cords,
Save those of love, which brings
Man, from his long wand'rings,
Back — to the King of kings, —
The Lord of lords?
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 d (C).
- 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 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
John Pierpont wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 798 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “Prayer for the Abolition of Slavery”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sixes and Fours (6.6.4.6.6.6.4), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to DORT; any other Sixes and Fours tune fits them as well.
- Words: John Pierpont (1785–1866)
- Music (1832): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Tune DORT by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by John Pierpont (1785–1866).
Sung to the same tune: Auspicious Morning, Hail, Loud Raise the Notes of Joy, My Country 'Tis of Thee, Thou, Whose Almighty Word, Where, for a Thousand Miles.
Questions about With Thy Pure Dews and Rains
What is the doh of With Thy Pure Dews and Rains?
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 With Thy Pure Dews and Rains start on?
It starts on d (C in C major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is With Thy Pure Dews and Rains in the public domain?
Yes. John Pierpont died in 1866, Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1853 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.