O Holy Night on Piano — Letter Notes & Play Online

Notes95, 11 pitches
RangeC4–E5
Key hereC major
Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
LevelIntermediate

Can a piano play O Holy Night?

Yes — every size 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.

49 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it
61 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · loaded above
88 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it

O Holy Night: piano letter notes

The large line is the key’s letter; a dot over it is the octave above middle C’s, a dot under it the octave below; the small line under it is the same note in do-re-mi. 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 — piano letter notes (61 keys) · tonalics.com

EMi––EMi–EMiGSol–×5GSolALa–

ALaFFa–ALaC•Do–×6GSol–GSolEMi–

DReCDo––EMi–FFaGSol––FFa–

DReCDo–×12EMi––EMi–EMiGSol–×5

GSolALa–ALaFFa–ALaC•Do–×6

GSol–GSolF♯Fa♯–EMiBSi––GSol–

ALaBSi––C•Do–BSiEMi–×11GSolGSol––ALa––DRe––GSol––

ALa–GSolC•Do–EMiALa––GSol–

GSolGSol––ALa––DRe––GSol––ALa–

GSolC•Do–EMiGSol–×6C•Do–×9BSi–

ALaBSi–×9BSi––D•Re–×8ALaALa–

ALaC•Do–×11C•DoE•Mi–×6D•Re–×5GSolC•Do–×9

BSi–ALaGSol–×8GSolALa–GSolGSol–×9

C•Do––D•Re–×9GSol––E•Mi–×9D•Re––C•Do–×6BSi––C•Do–D•ReC•Do–×12

O Holy Night letter notes as text

The same notes as plain text, one phrase to a line, to copy into a message or a document. A letter on its own is in the octave that starts on middle C (C4). A letter with a number is in that numbered octave: C5 is the C above middle C. A comma marks a long note.

E, E, E G, G A, A F, A C5
G, G E, D C, E, F G, F, D C
E, E, E G, G A, A F, A
C5, G, G F♯, E B, G, A B, C5, B
E, G G, A, D, G
A, G C5, E A, G, G G, A, D, G
A, G C5, E G, C5, B, A
B, B, D5, A A, A
C5, C5 E5, D5, G
C5, B, A G, G A, G
G, C5, D5, G
E5, D5, C5, B, C5, D5
C5

Is there a both-hands version?

Not of O Holy Night, on this page. The left hand here is made by rule — three chords, one hand position — and it is only offered where that rule can be checked against a published harmonisation and agrees with it on most bars. For this tune it matched the chords printed in Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024) on 34 of 60 bars and half bars: its harmony moves through more chords than three, and a left hand that ignored that would sound wrong under it. The right hand above is the whole tune.

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.

CDo×2
DRe×4
EMi×12
FFa×4
F♯Fa♯×1
GSol×26
ALa×18
BSi×8
C•Do×13
D•Re×5
E•Mi×2

What to expect on a piano

It runs from C4 to E5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 24 semitones unused below and 20 above.
60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, G4 to E5, at note 89.
It needs 1 black key: F♯4. Everything else is on the white keys.
It covers 10 white keys, more than the five a hand rests on, so the right hand has to move or stretch — more than once.

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 piano

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