Free easy piano · Hymns
It Is Well with My Soul, easy piano
It Is Well with My Soul for piano in four free versions: an easy arrangement and a beginner version in C major, a piano solo for church in D-flat major, and Bliss's original four-part setting. Play each one here, slow it down or loop a bar, then print the PDF or download the MIDI.
- Philip P. Bliss
- Beginner to intermediate, plus the original
- 22 bars · 4/4
- Free: play, print, MIDI
Versions of It Is Well with My Soul. Each version is a request typed into PlayableNotes. Pick one to hear and print it.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make this hymn easier for a second-year student. Put it in C major, keep the melody exactly and keep the echo in the refrain, and give the left hand two-note chords from the hymn's lower parts, nothing wider than an octave.”
What changed
The whole melody in C major over two-note left-hand chords taken mostly from the hymn's tenor and bass, with the refrain's echo kept.
- Moved down a half step, from D-flat major to C major: no key signature. The melody runs from the D above middle C to the D an octave higher.
- Right hand: the melody unchanged in all 22 bars. A second note from the hymnal's alto joins it only on long notes and at the ends of lines: bars 5, 8, 11, 14, 15, 19, 21 and 22.
- Left hand: mostly two notes at a time, following the hymnal's bass, never wider than an octave. Where the hymnal's left hand stretches a tenth or more, it plays something smaller: an octave G and then G–B in bars 4 and 8, and G–B, G–D in bar 18, the tenor's rising line over G.
- Bars 2 and 12: the bass's two eighth notes on beat 4 become one quarter note on its second note. Bar 2 holds C–G for three beats and moves to E–C on beat 4; bar 12 moves to F–B on beat 4.
- Refrain, bars 16 and 18: the right hand holds the long G alone, and the left hand plays the echo (C–G, E–C, then G–B, G–D). The hymnal's alto notes under the held G are left out.
- The hymnal's chromatic notes are all kept: G-sharp (bar 6), F-sharp (bars 7 and 11) and C-sharp (bar 10).
For teachers: For a second-year student who reads two-note chords in the left hand. Learn the left hand alone a line at a time; bars 6, 10 and 11 have its sharps. In the refrain, practice bars 15 to 18 hands together slowly so the left hand comes in on beat 3 under the held note without the right hand playing it again.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a beginner version for a first-year student: C major, the melody alone in the right hand, and a left hand of single notes and a few open fifths that follows the hymn's bass, mostly in half and whole notes.”
What changed
The melody alone in C major over a left hand of single notes and a few open fifths that follow the hymn's bass, with the refrain's echo kept.
- Moved down a half step, from D-flat major to C major: no key signature.
- Right hand: the melody alone, one note at a time, with the same rhythms in all 22 bars.
- Left hand: mostly single notes from the hymnal's bass, in half, dotted half and whole notes, with a quarter-note step on beat 4 of bars 8, 10, 12 and 13. In bar 11 it takes the alto's F-sharp, and the B in bar 8 and the B and D in bar 18 are the tenor's notes an octave lower. Open fifths in bars 2, 5, 9, 15 and 22 (C–G) and bar 8 (G–D). It rests in the pickup.
- Bars 3 and 6 keep the bass's walk in quarter notes (G, F, E and A, B, C); bars 19 to 21 hold one note per bar (C, F, G).
- Refrain, bars 16 and 18: the left hand plays the echo as two single notes (C, E and B, D) under the held G.
- Only two accidentals: F-sharp in the melody in bar 7 and in the left hand in bar 11. The hymnal's G-sharp (bar 6) and C-sharp (bar 10) are left out; bar 10 keeps the bass's step down to E.
For teachers: For a first-year student who reads in C. The melody spans an octave, so the right hand moves. Start with the thumb on D (bars 1 to 5 run from D to A), move up to the G-to-D position for bars 6 to 15 (reaching down to the F-sharp in bar 7), come down for the E in bar 19, then go back up for the A and C in bars 20 to 22. Mark those moves in pencil before the first play-through. The left hand stays between the low G and the G below middle C.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Turn this hymn into a piano solo I can play at church. Keep it in D-flat like the hymnal and keep the harmony. Add a short introduction from the last line, give the left hand flowing eighth notes, and play the refrain a second time, higher.”
What changed
The hymn in the hymnal's key, D-flat major, with a flowing left hand, an introduction from the last line, and the refrain played twice.
- Longer: 32 bars instead of 22. Bars 1 to 4 are an introduction, the hymn's last line from the two-beat pickup ("it is well, it is well with my soul"), the passage the hymnal marks for introductions. The hymn itself runs from the pickup on beat 4 of bar 4 to bar 25, then the refrain comes again in bars 25 to 32.
- Left hand: eighth notes on each chord's root, fifth and octave, following the hymnal's bass, with the tenor's note where the chord needs it (the C in bar 10, the D-flat in bar 15); no chord or pattern is wider than an octave. Where the hymnal's left hand stretches a tenth (its bars 4, 8 and 18), the left hand keeps the root and fifth and the right hand plays the third, C: on beat 4 of bar 7, in bar 11 and on beat 3 of bar 21.
- Right hand: the melody with the hymnal's alto under it in most bars, and three-note chords at the fermata (bar 18) and at the end of each refrain. A few alto notes change to fit the hand. In bar 7 the slurred G-flat and B-flat are played alone, and beat 4 adds middle C under the alto's E-flat. In bar 8 the melody is alone over the left hand's D-flat chord, and in bar 11 the alto's E-flat becomes middle C. Bars 13, 15 and 16 have smaller alto changes.
- Refrain, bars 19 to 22: as in the hymnal, the melody holds while the echo answers on beats 3 and 4 in quarter-note chords: in the left hand in bar 19, and in the right hand in bar 21 (C and E-flat, then E-flat and G-flat), over a low A-flat and E-flat. Where the hymnal's lower voices rest, the left hand keeps moving in eighth notes: on D-flat and A-flat in bar 19, and on the A-flat chord, A-flat, C and E-flat, in bars 20 and 21.
- Second refrain, bars 25 to 29: the melody an octave higher, up to the A-flat above the staff, with the echo in right-hand thirds and sixths (bars 26 and 28), a three-note chord in bar 27 and the left hand moved up to meet it, with A-flat, C and E-flat in eighth notes under the high A-flats. The last line comes back down on beat 3 of bar 29; the left hand plays chords and octaves in bars 30 to 32, with a fermata on the final chord.
- The chords are the hymnal's throughout, filled in where its lower voices rest, with its A natural (bar 9), G natural (bars 10 and 14) and D natural (bar 13).
For teachers: For a church pianist or an intermediate student who reads five flats. Learn the left hand alone first: the pattern follows every change of chord. Use the sustain pedal, changing it with each new bass note. Bars 25 to 29 are the only passage above the staff; look at the drop back to the middle register on beat 3 of bar 29 before you play it.
The piece as published: Open Hymnal Project, 2010 revision: Bliss's four-part setting from The Evangelical Hymnal (1921), hymn 208.
Original hymnal setting
What changed
What changed
Bliss's four-part setting as printed in the Open Hymnal edition: soprano and alto on the treble staff, tenor and bass on the bass staff.
- Nothing: this is the source edition, checked bar by bar against its MIDI and PDF and against the 1921 hymnal page.
- It is written for singers. In bar 4 (beat 4), bar 8 and bar 18 (beats 3 and 4) the tenor and bass are a tenth to a twelfth apart, wider than most hands reach. Pianists roll those chords or play the tenor with the right hand.
For teachers: Use it to hear the full harmony, to check a choir's parts, or to play with a congregation singing from a hymnal in D-flat. The refrain's echo is clearest here: the alto, tenor and bass answer the held melody in bars 16 and 18.
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A real request in PlayableNotes, on Für Elise from the free library: say who it’s for and what to keep, and the AI writes a new version beside the original. It shows how to ask for a version of your own; its result is not one of the versions on this page.
About It Is Well with My Soul
Horatio Spafford, a Chicago lawyer, wrote the words after his four daughters died when the French steamship Ville du Havre sank in the Atlantic in November 1873; his wife survived. Philip P. Bliss set them to music and named the tune VILLE DU HAVRE, after the ship. The hymn was published in Gospel Hymns No. 2 in 1876, the year Bliss and his wife died in the Ashtabula train disaster in Ohio.
The hymn is short: 22 bars in 4/4, counting the one-beat pickup as bar 1. The verse melody moves mostly by step and repeated notes, and the verse ends on a fermata in bar 15. Then comes the refrain and its well-known echo: the melody holds "well" and "soul" for a bar and a half (bars 16 and 18) while the lower voices answer "it is well" and "with my soul". The 1921 hymnal this edition comes from prints it in D-flat major, with five flats, and the left hand has to hold the tenor and bass together, a tenth or more apart in bars 4, 8 and 18.
The easy and beginner versions move down a half step to C major, with no key signature, and keep every note of the melody and the echo in the refrain. The piano solo stays in D-flat for church pianists: it has a short introduction, a flowing left hand and the refrain a second time, its first half an octave higher. The hymnal setting is here as printed, so you can hear what each version changed.
Practice tips
- Count three beats and start on beat 4: the hymn begins with a single pickup note, and in the hymnal, easy and beginner versions the last bar has only three beats to complete it. The bar numbers in these tips are the hymnal's; in the piano solo, they are three higher, up to bar 25.
- Bars 16 and 18 hold one melody note for a bar and a half: a whole note tied to a half note. Count six beats, the whole bar and two beats of the next, let the echo come in under it on beat 3, and don't play the tied note again.
- Bars 14 and 21 end with a dotted quarter and an eighth note. Count "three-and-four-and" and play the short note on the last "and", just before the next bar.
- The fermata in bar 15 ends the verse. Hold it, lift both hands, then play the refrain's first two notes on beats 3 and 4, back in tempo.
- Bars 6 to 11 carry all the accidentals: in the easy version G-sharp, F-sharp and C-sharp (the beginner version keeps only the F-sharps); in D-flat, the naturals in bars 6, 7, 10 and 11 of the hymnal (bars 9, 10, 13 and 14 of the solo). Circle them in pencil.
Questions about It Is Well with My Soul
Who wrote It Is Well with My Soul?
Horatio Spafford wrote the words after his four daughters died in the sinking of the Ville du Havre in 1873. Philip P. Bliss wrote the music and named the tune after the ship; it was published in 1876 in Gospel Hymns No. 2. Both the words and Bliss's setting are in the public domain.
What key is It Is Well with My Soul in?
Bliss's setting on this page is in D-flat major, with five flats, as in the 1921 hymnal this edition comes from. Hymnals differ: most print it in C major or D-flat major, some in B-flat or D, so check yours. The easy and beginner versions are in C major, with no key signature; the piano solo stays in D-flat.
Is It Is Well with My Soul hard to play on piano?
The melody isn't: it moves mostly by step and repeated notes, mostly in quarter and half notes, within one octave. The hymnal page is harder, because it is in five flats and written for four voices, so the left hand has to stretch a tenth or more in three bars. The easy and beginner versions are in C major and keep the left hand within an octave.
Can I play these versions with a congregation?
Check the key in your congregation's hymnal first. The easy and beginner versions are in C, which matches the hymnals that print it in C; the original and the piano solo are in D-flat, which matches hymnals printed in D-flat, like the 1921 hymnal this edition comes from. Some hymnals use B-flat or D, and then neither key here matches. Don't combine a version in one key with an organ, a band or another pianist playing in another. To put any version in your hymnal's key, open it in PlayableNotes with a free account and ask for another key.
Is this the hymn or the modern worship song?
This page is the 1876 hymn by Spafford and Bliss, with its refrain "It is well with my soul". Some modern worship songs borrow its title or words, the best known being Bethel Music's "It Is Well" (2014); they are separate songs under copyright and are not on this page.
Can I download It Is Well with My Soul as a PDF or MIDI file?
Yes, free and without an account. Every version has a Letter-size PDF to print and a MIDI file with the right and left hands on separate tracks.
Source and credits
- Composer
- Philip P. Bliss
- Source edition
- Open Hymnal Project, 2010 revision: Bliss's four-part setting from The Evangelical Hymnal (1921), hymn 208
- License
- Public domain
- Arranger
- PlayableNotes
All 22 bars were checked note by note against the Open Hymnal's own MIDI and PDF and against the printed page of The Evangelical Hymnal (1921), and the melody against four other editions; no notes needed correcting. The 1921 hymnal splits two refrain bars into half-bars and adds an Amen; the Open Hymnal edition prints full bars and leaves the Amen out. No words are included.
Arrangements and facts checked
