Magnificat

Settings of the Magnificat text have been some of my favorite choral works since I had the opportunity to study Bach’s Magnificat BWV 243 as a high school student. The haunting delicacy of Pärt’s setting, the frightening opening of Vivaldi’s, and the fragile beauty of Bach’s “Quia Respexit” have all been formative works toward my own style as a composer.

The Magnificat text is taken from the New Testament, Luke 1:46-55. Mary, pregnant with Jesus, visited Elizabeth, who was at the time pregnant with John the Baptist, and was greeted by Elizabeth with a question: “why am I so favored that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” Mary’s response is this:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

                                                                                                                        -NRSV Translation

This prayer haunts me as I consider our modern social justice failures. I was baptized and raised in the Presbyterian Church, and it’s particularly difficult for me to wrap my head around those who claim the Bible as a justification to other, as motivation for ignoring the humanity of marginalized communities, or even as carte blanche to demonize. I wrote this piece as a call back toward the social justice and compassion for others that I believe is at the very core of the New Testament’s message.

This Magnificat is set using the traditional Latin translation. One section, however, the “Dispersit Superbos,” is also set in chanted and spoken English, and functions as the center of the work. The surrounding six movements are loosely palindromic in musical content: the first is like the sixth, the second like the fifth, and the third like the fourth (a translation by movement can be found below). The work is based on just two motives: the first is the thin, dissonant motive heard in the viola solo that opens the work; the second is the repetitive bass motive that begins when the full orchestra first enters and gradually shifts from defiant in Movement 1 (“Magnificat anima mea Dominum”) to promising and hopeful in Movement 6 (“Sicut erat in pricipio…”). Movements 2 and 5 are set simply, responding to the humility Mary expresses in her prayer. Movements 3 and 4 are set to the darkest music of the set, accompanying Mary’s charges against the rich and powerful.

Whether or not you hear this work as strictly religious, loosely spiritual, or neither, it is my hope that you can hear it as a call toward the messages of kindness, humility, gratitude, and empathy that I believe the Bible teaches. These things still mean something in our daily interactions and activism, and we will all benefit from more of each. 

Magnificat was commissioned by Robert Ragoonanan and Westminster Presbyterian Church of Grand Rapids Michigan. Many thanks also to Drs. Eric Reyes and Nicole Mattfeld for their support and feedback as I wrote this work.

Premiered December 7, 2025.