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SongsO Holy Night
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Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain.

4 strings · G3–E5 open · E6 at the octave · Perfect fifths all the way up. What every violin in the world is tuned to unless somebody has decided otherwise.

Tap a string, or slide along a string and the pitch follows your finger, under a bow that never stops. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — they run down the strings, 1 at the top — hold a key and the note holds.

ViolinFree · printable · plays in your browser

O Holy Night — Violin Notes

O Holy Night, written out for the violin as every note with its string and how far up it and set up above on the Standard. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the violin waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

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

Can a violin 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.

  • Standard✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · loaded above
  • AEAE✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it
  • ADAE✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it
  • GDGD✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it

O Holy Night: violin notes

The large line is the note; the small line under it is the string, and how many semitones above its open note to stop it. 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 — violin notes (Standard) · tonalics.com

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.

  • CG·5×2
  • DD·0×4
  • ED·2×12
  • FD·3×4
  • F♯D·4×1
  • GD·5×26
  • AA·0×18
  • BA·2×8
  • CA·3×13
  • DA·5×5
  • EE·0×2

What to expect on a violin

  • It runs from C4 to E5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 12 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 is played on 4 strings (G, D, A and E), crossing between strings 42 times.
  • 24 notes are an open string, and the highest stop is 5 semitones above the open string — it never leaves the bottom of the neck.

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 violin

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

Playing it on a real violin?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The violin tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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