Rutter's "Magnificat"

December 2010

 

Composer John Rutter states:

"The passage from St Luke (Chapter 1, verses 46-55) known as the Magnificat has always been one of the most familiar and well-loved of scriptural texts, not least because of its inclusion as a canticle in the Catholic office of Vespers and in Anglican Evensong. It is a poetic outpouring of praise, joy and trust in God, ascribed by Luke to the Virgin Mary on learning that she was to give birth to the Christ. Musical settings of it abound, though surprisingly few of them since J. S. Bach's give the text extended treatment.

"I had long wished to write an extended Magnificat, but was not sure how to approach it until I found my starting point in the association of the text with the Virgin Mary. In countries such as Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico, feast days of the Virgin are joyous opportunities for people to take to the streets and celebrate with singing, dancing and processions. These images of outdoor celebration were I think somewhere in my mind as I wrote, although I was not fully conscious of the fact until afterwards. I was conscious of following Bach's example in adding to the liturgical text: the interpolated 'Sanctus' (to the Gregorian chant of the Missa cum jubilo) in the third movement seems to grow out of the preceding thought 'et sanctum nomen eius'. The lovely 15th Century English poem 'Of a Rose' (which forms the second movement) and the prayer 'Sancta Maria' (which the soloist sings to its Gregorian melody in the middle of the Gloria), both strengthen the Marian connection further."