Saturday, December 10, 2016

All generations shall call me blessed

We were talking about Mary yesterday, weren't we. Well, let's carry on, then. We’re running with the big dogs today. It’s the Magnificat, by J.S. Bach.

A Magnificat is a song of Mary; it comes from her response to the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel. “My soul doth magnify the lord.”

The Canticle of Mary is most often heard during vespers or Evensong in the Western liturgy. And, of course, during Advent, when we are generally thinking about the whole Nativity story.

Many composers have taken a whack at Magnificat, and Papa Bach himself had two goes at it—the one I’m giving you today, in E-flat major, and a later version in D major. This one has several Christmas-related inclusions (including “Vom Himmel hoch”, “Freut euch und jubilieret” and “Gloria in excelsis Deo”) that are missing from the other one.

I once sang it with a choir, and let me just say that there are a lot of moving parts in a Bach piece, particularly in the soprano section. If you lose your place, you may never find your way back

This is the entire work, a good 30 minutes worth. Crank up the volume to the max and let yourself be subsumed in this incredible beauty.




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