O Holy Night on Flute — Notes, Fingering Chart & Play Online

Notes95, 11 pitches
RangeG4–B5
Key hereG major
Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
LevelIntermediate

Can a flute play O Holy Night?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

C foot✓ Plays as writtenIn G major, G4–B5 · loaded above
B foot✓ Plays as writtenIn G major, G4–B5 · load it

O Holy Night: flute notes

The large line is the note, and the drawing is its fingering — a filled hole or key is one that is down. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

O Holy Night — flute notes (C foot) · tonalics.com

B––B–BD–×5DE–

EC–EG–×6D–DB–

AG––B–CD––C–

AG–×12B––B–BD–×5

DE–EC–EG–×6

D–DC♯–BF♯––D–

EF♯––G–F♯B–×11DD––E––A––D––

E–DG–BE––D–

DD––E––A––D––E–

DG–BD–×6G–×9F♯–

EF♯–×9F♯––A–×8EE–

EG–×11GB–×6A–×5DG–×9

F♯–ED–×8DE–DD–×9

G––A–×9D––B–×9A––G–×6F♯––G–AG–×12

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

GG4×2
AA4×4
BB4×12
CC5×4
C♯C♯5×1
DD5×26
EE5×18
F♯F♯5×8
GG5×13
AA5×5
BB5×2

What to expect on a flute

It runs from G4 to B5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 7 semitones unused below and 13 above.
60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, D5 to B5, at note 89.
It is played on gentle air and faster air, and the air speed changes 21 times — a flute’s octaves are a speed of air, not a key.

About the tune

Adolphe Adam, the composer of the ballet Giselle, wrote it in 1847 as “Cantique de Noël” for a poem by Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant in the southern French town of Roquemaure. It is a solo song rather than a congregational carol, and it is written like an aria.

Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about O Holy Night →

O Holy Night on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the kalimba, mbira, guzheng, handpan, harp or lyre, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the flute

All 36 flute songs · Christmas songs for flute · The online flute on its own