Classical Music | Choral Music

Johann Sebastian Bach

"Magnificat" from the "Magnificat" in D  Play

Corale Quadriclavio Chorale

Recorded on 09/07/2001, uploaded on 08/30/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Magnificat in D major, BWV 243    Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat is one of his most well-known and often performed choral works. It was composed in 1723 for the Christmas Vespers in Leipzig. This original version of the work, a halftone higher in E flat, contained four additional movements with Christmas specific texts. Later, Bach removed the Christmas movements and transposed the entire piece to D major. This new version of the Magnificat, which is the one most often heard today, was first performed at the Thomaskirche for the Feast of Visitation on July 2, 1733, the fourth Sunday after Trinity. Today, the Feast of Visitation occurs at the end of May.

The text of the Magnificat, also known as the “Song of Mary,” is taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. In the narrative, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist. When Mary greets her, the child moves in Elizabeth’s womb and she praises Mary for her faith. Mary then sings the words of the Magnificat. Allusions are also made to the Old Testament throughout the text, most notably, the Song of Hannah from the second chapter of First Book of Samuel. The text was originally written in Greek though it is most often heard in Latin, and in modern times, the vernacular. Bach uses the Latin text making his Magnificat is one of his few choral works in that language—the colossal Mass in B minor is another.

Bach’s Magnificat is divided into twelve movements and composed for five soloists, choir and orchestra. Excluding the opening and concluding choral movements, the Magnificat divides neatly into three almost equal sections, each beginning with an aria and ending with a fugal choral movement. The Magnificat is unique in its absence of recitatives. This shows a breaking with the recitative-aria tradition of the Baroque period.

Worthy of its position alongside Handel’s Messiah, the Magnificat is Bach in his most majestic and joyous vein. It is a tour de force, not only for the performers, but for Bach himself and is a perfect example of High Baroque art at its finest.     Joseph DuBose


Brano eseguito dalla Corale Quadriclavio e dall'Orchestra giovanile Symphonia Ensemble, dirette dal Maestro Lorenzo Bizzarri, nella chiesa di Santa Maria di Baricella (Bologna)