Sunday 1st October 2023 Harvest Choral Evensong

Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis in D   Charles Wood

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D is a choral setting by the Irish composer Charles Wood of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for the Anglican service of Evening Prayer. Scored for four-part choir and organ, it was written in 1898. It is also known as Evening Service in D major.

Wood won an organ scholarship to the University of Cambridge where he became the organist at Caius and, later, a fellow of the college, having graduated with a doctorate in music. He set the combination of Magnificat and Nunc dimittis several times for the Evening Prayer of the Anglican Church, taking the words from the Book of Common Prayer. Evensong is a traditional daily service combining elements of vespers and compline. Wood's setting in D is his earliest, and has been regarded as his most popular version of the canticles. It has been said, together with the Evening Service in B-flat by Stanford, to mean for many "the epitome of Church of England worship".

Magnificat (Song of Mary) and Nunc dimittis (Song of Simeon) are biblical canticles. Mary sings the Magnificat ("My soul doth magnify the Lord") on the occasion of her visit to Elizabeth, as narrated in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:39–56). Simeon sings the Nunc dimittis ("Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace") when Jesus is presented in the temple (Luke 2:29–32). Each canticle is concluded by a doxology. The canticles are part of the daily service of Evening Prayer in the Anglican church and have been set to music often.

Wood set the text for a four-part choir and organ. He set each canticle as one movement. Both are concluded by the same doxology. The Magnificat is in common time, marked Allegro. All voices begin in unison with a slow rising scale in halfnotes, beginning with D. For "and my spirit has rejoiced", they move in lively rhythm, calming to the halfnotes for "in God, my saviour". With similar attention to detail, Wood set the words, with the choir often in homophony. Polyphony is reserved for the doxology "Glory be to the father".

In the Nunc dimittis, set in triple meter and marked Adagio, the basses alone sing most of the canticle text of the old Simeon. After the first line, the upper voices echo the text "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace" in homophony. After the second line, the upper voices repeat their first echo, but now in E major. After the third line, the upper voices repeat the last words, "Thy people Israel", ending in A major, and followed by the doxology.

Taken from Wikipedia

Ye Shall Dwell In The Land  J Stainer

The words for this Harvest anthem are taken from Ezekiel 36:28,30,34,35 and Psalm 136:1

And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field,

And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of The Crucifixion, still heard at Passiontide in some churches of the Anglican Communion), was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music that are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at Oxford.

Stainer was born in Southwark, London, in 1840, the son of a schoolmaster. He became a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral when aged ten and was appointed to the position of organist at St Michael's College, Tenbury at the age of sixteen. He later became organist at Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently organist at St Paul's Cathedral. When he retired owing to his poor eyesight and deteriorating health, he returned to Oxford to become Professor of Music at the university. He died unexpectedly while on holiday in Italy in 1901.

J Stainer taken from Wikipedia