Magnificat (SSAA & piano)

SSAA chorus & piano
This piece is available in multiple orchestrations. This version can be used as a Choral Rehearsal score for the orchestrated versions, or can be performed on its own. The piece is also available in SATB voicings.

Again and again, I find myself drawn to poems and other writings that present a very human perspective on the divine. In Lynn Ungar’s poem “Magnificat,” we contemplate an apparent contradiction in Mary’s words: that magnifying God could in fact mean making God smaller, in the form of a child. Just as the poem turns these words over, finding new meaning each time, the music spins these repeated phrases into new harmonic perspectives. I love how Ungar’s poem grounds the traditional Christmas story in details like the urgent hunger of an infant or the smell of farm animals. Her text, like all good poems, uses the small, precise, and confined nature of poetry to magnify our humanity.

This piece was commissioned by the following consortium: the Carson Chamber Singers through the Carson City Symphony Association, led by Richard Hutton (World Premiere, version for full orchestra); North Shore Choral Society, led by Julia Davids (Midwest Premiere, version for chamber orchestra); Harmonium Choral Society, led by Anne Matlack (East Coast Premiere, version for string quartet & piano); and Cantabile Chamber Singers, led by Cheryll Chung (Canadian Premiere, piano arrangement).