For many years I have enjoyed composing for voices and piano. Not being a trained organist, when offered the opportunity for a sabbatical residency at Canterbury Cathedral in 2016, I prepared by taking several months of organ lessons. In the process of getting a better understanding of the instrument’s extraordinarily expressive range, I was inspired to compose Magnificat for Canterbury’s treble choristers.
In the Anglican choral tradition, settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are sung at Evensong on a daily basis. Although the titles are in Latin, most of the evensong repertoire is sung in English.
The Magnificat text, also called “The Song of Mary,” comes from the Gospel of Luke. While some Christmas carol texts describe Mary as gentle and submissive, the words of the Magnificat reveal a vision of flipping the status quo on its head. Sounds a bit like revolutionary talk. In fact, in Nicaragua’s revolution of the 1960s–70s, the Magnificat was a favorite prayer among many peasants.
Whether the words are interpreted as a revolution of the soul or an anthem of social justice, Mary’s song still reverberates with a prophetic message,
