Magnificat

Rutter's Magnificat dates from 1990 and took its impulse, by his own account, from the street celebrations of the Virgin he had seen in Latin countries — hence the festive, dance-driven treatment of a text usually set with restraint. He inserts two things into the Latin canticle: the anonymous fifteenth-century English lyric Of a Rose, a lovely Rose, and the prayer Sancta Maria. The seven movements are laid out for soprano soloist, chorus and orchestra. Rutter conducted the first performance in Carnegie Hall in May 1990.