Magnificat in D Major, BWV
Johann Sebastian Bach Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 Magnificat Quia respexit Quia fecit mihi magna Et misericordia eius Fecit potentiam Deposuit potentes Suscepit Israel Gloria patri Sicut erat in principio *** Chorus: S-S-A-T-B Soloists: Soprano 1, soprano 2, alto, tenor, bass Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 oboes d'amore, 3 trumpets, timpani, strings, continuo ************************* Program notes by Martin Pearlman Bach, Magnificat, BWV 243 In 1723, for his first Christmas as cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Bach presented a newly composed setting of the Magnificat. It was a grand, celebratory work with a five-voice chorus and a colorful variety of instruments, and Bach expanded the Magnificat text itself by interpolating settings of several traditional Christmas songs between movements. This was the original Eb-major version of his Magnificat, and it was Bach's largest such work up to that point. About a decade later, he reworked the piece, lowering the key from Eb to the more conventional trumpet key of D major, altering some of the orchestration, and, perhaps most importantly, removing the Christmas inserts, so that the work could be performed at a variety of festivals during the liturgical year. It is this later D major version of the Magnificat that is normally heard today. Despite its brilliance and grandeur, Bach's Magnificat is a relatively short work. Nonetheless, it is filled with countless fascinating details. The tenor opens his aria Deposuit with a violent descending F# minor scale to depict the text "He hath put down [the mighty]". At the end of the alto aria Esurientes, Bach illustrates the words "He hath sent the rich away empty" by having the solo flutes omit their final note.
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