- Rangeoctave and a whole step
- Notes76, 9 different
- ScaleMajor, no accidentals
- Time4/4
- Length hereabout 43 s
- Source editionG major
About Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Mendelssohn wrote this melody in 1840 as part of a cantata marking four hundred years of printing, and said he thought it unsuitable for sacred words. In 1855 the English musician William H. Cummings fitted it to Charles Wesley’s carol anyway, and the pairing has been standard ever since.
It is a broad, march-like tune that spans a ninth and saves its highest note for the two closing phrases.
Play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on your instrument
24 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 23 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.
- Kalimba tabs
- Piano letter notes
- Mbira tabs
- Oud notes
- Violin notes
- Cello notes
- Erhu notes
- Dulcimer tab
- Xylophone letter notes
- Marimba letter notes
- Glockenspiel letter notes
- Steel Drum letter notes
- Harmonica tabs
- Trumpet notes
- Clarinet notes
- Saxophone notes
- Flute notes
- Recorder notes
- Tuba notes
- Euphonium notes
- Trombone notes
- Accordion letter notes
- Harp letter notes
- Lyre tabs
Instruments that cannot play it
- Guzheng — it would need C♯5, G5, which it does not have in any size or key here.
- Handpan — it would need G3, B3, which it does not have in any size or key here.
- Ocarina — it would need G3, which it does not have in any size or key here.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing letter notes
Written in C major, from G4 to A5, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — letter notes · tonalics.com
Where these notes come from
Felix Mendelssohn, 1840, adapted to the carol by William H. Cummings in 1855. Public domain.
The melody was not written down from memory. It is derived from a published transcription and compared, note for note, with independent ones:
- Followed: Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers
- Checked against: Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024) — 1 of 76 notes differ, as variants of a traditional tune do
- Checked against: Douglas D. Anderson, The Hymns and Carols of Christmas (sequence released to the public domain) — 1 of 75 notes differ, as variants of a traditional tune do