Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in F

During the first COVID-19 lockdown here in the UK, I got to thinking about my “bucket list” of compositions – what pieces would I still like to write? Having sung many church and cathedral evensong services through my singing life, I had never composed a straightforward setting of the Evening Canticles for mixed choir and organ.
So here it is, the Magnificat and Nuns Dimittis in F. It’s deliberately melodious and diatonic, and hopefully fairly easy to pick up in rehearsal.
The Magnificat features a broad opening tune (quoting one of my earliest Christmas carols) and then a range of sections of new material – the opening tune returns once more at “he hath shewed strength with his arm” and also for the Gloria. The Nunc Dimittis features a repeated four-bar harmony figure in the organ over which is sung a 23-bar canon between the lower and upper voices. This canon theme reappears in the Gloria but stated only once, for a simple, gentle ending.