The St Mary Redcliffe Service: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

Following on from my 2-part mass setting written in 2014 for Beccy Holdeman and the Occasional Choir of St Mary Redcliffe Parish Church, Bristol, in 2015 I composed a companion setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The Magnificat is set in a strict binary structure with two contrasting music sequences interpolated across the whole text. One sequence is lively and driven in alternating 6/8 and 4/4 time whilst the other passage has a more reflective style with gentle scalar vocal lines over a slowly changing chordal organ part in 7/8 time. The Nunc Dimittis starts with a 10-bar canon between the upper and lower voices followed by a slow build to a climax on “and to be the glory of thy people Israel”. The Gloria returns to the Nunc opening material for a gentle finish to the service. As with my earlier mass setting, the lower part is optional and can be omitted, and the music is available scored for unison/2-part voices and organ or SATB and organ.