Magnificat in D major BWV 243

Chorus: Magnificat anima mea

Aria: Et Exultavit

Aria: Qui respexit

Chorus: Omnes generationes

Aria: Qui fecit mihi magna

Duet: Et misericordia

Chorus: Fecit potentiam

Aria: Deposuit potentes

Aria: Esurientes

Trio: Suscepit Isreal

Chorus: Sicut locutus es

Chorus: Gloria Patri

One of Bach’s first duties as Cantor of St Thomas’s was to compose a new setting of the Latin Magnificat. In most Lutheran church services in Bach’s day the Magnificat was given in German as Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn, a chorale based on the ancient tonus peregrinus chant. But on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter, the Latin text was required. It has long been thought that Bach’s setting – in cantata form, with a separate movement for every verse – was written for Christmas Day in 1723. It has recently been suggested that the actual first performance was given before that, on the Feast of the Visitation, which was regularly celebrated in a big way in Leipzig, in July of the same year. It is true that the manuscript score of the E-flat-major orginal version includes four Nativity choruses (Vom Himmel hoch, Freut euch und jubiliert, Gloria in excelsis and Virga Jesse) which are not normally part of the Magnificat but which were traditionally incorporated at evensong on Christmas Day. They are not integrated into the manuscript, however, but appended to it. So they could have been added at Christmas to a score written a few months earlier.

However that may be, seven or eight years later Bach made a new version of his Latin Magnificat – presumably, since it excludes the Christmas choruses, for some other feast day in the Church or, perhaps, for performance at the Collegium Musicum. He also transposed it from E flat to the more practical key of D, changed the instrumentation and, in a beautifully written out manuscript, tidied up some of the details of the original score. Today’s performance of this most tuneful of all Bach’s devotional works is based on the second and (if not in every respect) superior version.

Whichever version is used, the brilliantly sustained orchestral introduction and the five-part chorus, Magnificat anima mea, are bound to make an exhilarating effect. The D major version is the more sonorous and texturally the more intricate, however, because of the addition of a pair of flutes to the three trumpets, two oboes, strings and timpani common to both. The first aria, Et exsultavit for (second) soprano accompanied by strings and continuo, sets the form followed by most of the solo movements – no recitative but an opening instrumental ritornello introducing a theme which the voice repeats and elaborates and which returns at the end. The exception is the next aria, beginning in B minor. The expressive oboe d’amore obbligato supplies the theme and the symbolism for only the first line, “Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae,” after which the (first) soprano introduces new material and, without pause, her last two words “omnes generationes” are dramatically swallowed up in another magnificent five-part contrapuntal chorus, this one in F sharp minor. The repeated notes of Omnes generationes are carried over in the melodic line of the proud bass solo Quia fecit accompanied by continuo only.

In the tender duet for alto and tenor, Et misericordia, the pastoral atmosphere implicit in the 12/8 siciliano rhythms is enhanced in the present version by the addition of the two flutes to double the muted violins. In both versions of the score the following chorus Fecit potentiam, the central pillar of the structure, makes a direct and highly effective contrast. Strangely, Bach omits violas from the second version of the aggressive Deposuit tenor solo, which is now accompanied only by unison violins and continuo. In the alto solo Esurientes he replaces a pair of recorders, whose frail voices were probably more appropriate to the sentiments of the text, with the two flutes. The Suscepit Israel trio (for the two sopranos and the alto) introduces the tonus peregrinus chant on a pair of oboes in unison, replacing the solo trumpet of the original version.

As for the last two movements, the five-part fugue on Sicut locutus and the resounding Gloria patri with its vocal entries bubbling up from the bass, the two versions are much the same, except that again the presence of the two flutes makes something more elaborate of the opening Magnificat anima mea music when it is so felicitously recalled towards the end on the words “Sicut erat in principio” - as it was in the beginning.

Gerald Larner ©2007

Magnificat anima mea

Et Exultavit

Qui respexit

Omnes generationes

Qui fecit mihi magna

Et misericordia

Fecit potentiam

Deposuit potentes

Esurientes

Suscepit Isreal

Sicut locutus es

Gloria

In the Lutheran church in Bach’s day it was customary to reserve the Latin version of the Magnificat for special occasions – Christmas, Easter, Penetecost. At other times it was given in German in chorale form as Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn. One of Bach’s first duties after his appointment as Cantor of St Thomas’s in Leipzig in 1723 was to composer a new setting of the latin Magnificat. Since it was expected that he should set the text in cantata form, with a separate movement for every verse, it was a major undertaking, and the appearance of the manuscript of the first version (in E flat major) suggests that he had had to complete it in a hurry. Moreover, as it was to be performed at Christmas, he had to supply four Nativity choruses which are not normally part of the Magnificat but which were traditionally incorporated in at at evensong on Christmas Day. These – Vom Himmel hoch in E flat major, Freut euch und jubiliert in B flat major, Gloria in excelsis in E flat major, and Virga Jesse in F major – he appended at the end of the score, the last of them completely written out.

Five or six years later Bach made a new version of his Latin Magnificat – obviously for performance at Easter or Pentecost, since he left out the additional choruses. He also transposed it from E flat to the more practical key of D major, changed the instrumentation and, in a beautifully written out manuscript, tidied up some of the details of the original score. Tonight’s performance is basically of the secnd version with the the four Christmas choruses included at the points Bach indicated in his 1723 score and, of course, transposed down a semitone.

Whichever version is used, the opening chorus is bound to make an exciting effect: the d major version is more elaborate because of the additin of a pair of flutes to the three trumpets, two oboes, strings and timpani; the E flat version is even more brilliant in the trumpet part, which would sound a semitone higher. Et exsultavit is a soprano aria accompanied by strings and, of course, continuo. It sets the form followed by most of the solo movement – an openng instrumental ritornello introducing a theme which the singer repeats and elaborates and which returns at the end. At this point the first of the Christmas pieces is interpolated, an unaccompanied chorus on Vom Himmel hoch with the chorale melody in the sopranos. The exceptional aria is the next one, beginning in B minor. The oboe d’amore obbligato supplies the theme and the symbolism for only the first line – “Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae” – after which the soprano introduces new material; and, without paus, her last two words “omnes generationes” are dramatically swallowed up in a magnificent five-part contrapuntal chorus in F sharp minr. The repeates note of Omnes generationes are carried over in the melodic line of the bass solo Quia fecit accompanied by continuo only. The second of the interpolated Christmas pieces, a four-part chorus (without basses) on Freut euch, follows in the same key.

In the second version of the Magnificat the E minor duet for alto and tenor Et misericordia, the pastoral atmospherre implicit in the 12/8 rhythms is enhanced by the addition of a pair of flutes to double the violins. In both versions the following chorus Fecit potentiam makes a direct contrast, which is offset in the D major version by the aggressive tenor solo in F sharp minor Deposuit. Whether the effect is heightened or weakened by the introduction of the Christmas Gloria between Fecit potentiam and Deposuit, as in 1723, tonight’s audience can judge for itself.

In the first version the alto solo Esurientes was accompanied by recorder, whose frail voice was probably more appropriate to the sentiments of the text than the flutes specified later. Similarly, after the last of the interpolated Christmas choruses – the two-part cradle song Virga Jesse floruit for soprano and basses – the first version offered a Suscepit Israel for sopranos and altos accompanied only by violins and violas with the traditional cantus firmus on solo trumpet. It is an interesting colour combination but Bach must have found it impractical, for the the D major scoring (and in tonight’s performance) the accompaniment is provided by cellos and continuto with the cantus firmus on a pair of oboes. As for the last two movement, the five-part fugue on Sicut locutus and the resounding Gloria patri with its fanfares bubbling up from the bass, the two versions are much the same – except that again the presence of the two flutes makes something more elaborate of the opening Magnificat anima mea music when it is so felicitously recalled at the end.