Your Sunday Hymn: Holy Is Your Name (Magnificat)

In honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mary Ever Virgin, Dec 8: David Haas’s beautiful Magnificat –

I usually prefer to hear that sung by a woman – because it’s Mary’s song – but this guy sang and played it so well. Just excellently done. Chills.

I offer also for your enjoyment, Magnificat by Johann Sebastian Bach. Conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt:

JS Bach’s Magnificat, is a canticle, a sacred music of praise by Mary, on learning she’ll give birth to Christ. Bach’s Magnificat brief history, and other information.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat, text from the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 46-55, is a sacred hymn of praise traditionally presented for Christmas. The original language is in Latin, a word for a canticle of the Virgin Mary (“My soul doth magnify the Lord”) as it appears in St. Luke’s Gospel. The first performance was in the church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, Christmas Vespers (1723).

Written by Bach in 1723, the first version was in E-flat major. It was revised in 1732 to form the second version in D major, the only one in existence today. Magnificat is composed of 12 musical numbers. The cast has five solo voices, five-part mixed chorus, flutes, oboes, trumpets, timpani, strings, continuo with cello, contrabass, bassoon, and organ.

Johann Sebastian Bach, (1685-1750), a German composer and organist, was born in Eisenach, Germany. He was a contemporary of George Frideric Handel.