"My soul doth magnify the Lord...", is one of the most ancient Marian hymns and widely spread in Western Christianity. The Magnificat or Canticle of Mary, comes from Luke's Gospel during the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. A fitting piece for the Christmas Liturgy, Mary's song tells of the greatness of the Lord and the joy which comes from bearing Him in her womb. The canticle expresses the reoccurring theme of the salvation and fulfillment of God's covenant with the chosen people which is found throughout the propers of Christmas.
The Magnificat is most well associated with Evensong, where it is paired with the Nunc Dimittis, or Song of Simeon. The amount of settings of these two canticles by well-known English composers over the ages are immense. From Purcell's Service in G minor to Stanford's Service in C and Dyson's Setting in D, we have some of the most beautiful music ever composed in the English language. The setting which will be sung this year at Lessons and Carols is from an English composer earlier than all of the previous three mentioned.
Thomas Morley lived between 1557 and 1602 and claimed to be a student of William Byrd. He was organist of St. Paul's London after receiving a degree from Oxford. He wrote two services for evening prayer, one entitled Short Service and the other in the fauxbourdon style. Literally meaning, false base, a piece in fauxbourdon is harmonies above and below the melody, usually a 4th and 6th, which allow for the chant to move parallel with it. This was the basis for hymn singing in the English tradition, where the melody was in the tenor, and the harmonies above and below. In this case, the tenor sings the chant from the VIII psalm tone throughout the piece, while the other three parts sing in fauxbourdon. This creates a clear, simple, but beautiful setting for the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Here is the first choral piece which will be included in the Christmas Liturgy at St. Bartholomew, Break forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light - by JS Bach.
This "hymn" is a significant choral piece in the repertoire because of the larger work which it comes from: Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 for Weihnachtstag. This piece is the chorale from the second part of the Christmas masterpiece which was composed around 1734. Like most of Bach's sacred cantatas, the chorale was taken from a older well-known tune, in this case from the early Baroque composer Johann Schop, and either incorporated into the polyphony, or in this case, re-harmonized into a SATB setting.
The text, Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht, was written by the German poet and dramatist Johann von Rist. Also writing two complete cantata texts for Bach, von Rist incorporated a Greek style of sacred text by focusing on the great eternal light which "ushers in the morning."
The stanzas walk the audience through the life of Christ, beginning at his birth with the "angels warning" to the "confidence and joy" of His earthly ministry to the chosen people, all the way to his death and "the powers of hell overthrowing." The chorale ends the way it should be sung: "at last our peace bestowing."
It is a good thing we have malls, television, and the internet to remind us (starting on November 1st) that Christmas is on its way, or I think we would all be SO lost.
Attached below are links to the packets for Lessons and Carols as well as for Christmas Mass. There is no need to print them out and bring them to rehearsal (I will have complete packets), but in case you lose something or are interested in looking early, they will always be linked here. Which brings us to the next topic, rehearsal...
We will rehearse starting the First Sunday of Advent after mass, as well as the Wednesday of that week. We will continue rehearsing after mass for all 4 weeks of Advent. We will arrange a final practice on Christmas Eve before lessons at a later time.
Next Wednesday we will start with dinner at 6pm, a thank you for all your work this year for the schola program, and continue with practice at 6:45. This will give us a chance to read through the entire packets and make notes. Please come hungry and ready to sing.
