CFAMC Listening Page #7

First issued May 15, 2005

A monthly musical offering by a composer member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers.
Both your listening and comments are encouraged.

J. Ryan Garber

Magnificat

(First of three parts)
Recording not currently available

Performed by:
The Carson-Newman Oratorio Chorus & Orchestra
Eric Thorson, conductor

Text

Magnificat anima mea Dominum.
    My soul magnifies the Lord.
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
    And my spirit rejoices in the God of my salvation.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae:
    For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnis generationes.
    for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est,
    For he who is mighty has done great things for me,
et sanctum nomen eius.
    and holy is His name.

Program Notes

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Magnificat was frequently set to music by many composers, including Dufay, Palestrina, and Lassus who wrote over 100 settings. In the Baroque era (1600-1750) Monteverdi, Schütz, Vivaldi, and Bach composed significant settings. Following them, C.P.E. Bach and Mozart were also inspired to put these words to music. In the Romantic era (1825-1900) the Magnificat text was largely ignored by composers, but it began to find new light in the 20th Century with settings by Hovhaness, Penderecki, and Pärt, among others.

Known also as “Mary’s Song,” the text for the Magnificat comes directly out of the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55) except for the Gloria Patri, a typical doxology added to the end of most Magnificat settings. While the words are Mary’s, I believe they can represent all people who “magnify the Lord.”

Text painting, the deliberate use of melody and other musical elements to “paint” the words, is present in this setting of the Magnificat. For example, the choir repeats the word “inanes” (“empty-handed”) at the end of Part II, each time more softly, dying away, and ending somewhat abruptly. At the end of the piece, when the choir sings “sicut erat in principio” (“as it was in the beginning”), the music has returned to the opening theme.

The use of the instruments reflects the text and the overall mood conveyed in each section. In general, the strings play in their low register creating a rather dark and rich sound. The woodwinds, brass, and percussion serve in a variety of roles, from providing color, background harmony, melodic ideas, and power. Of special note is the use of handbells (played by members of the choir) and the instruction for the string players to sing near the end of the piece.

Composer's Statement of Faith

While any composition by a Christian composer likely will reflect, at some level, the relationship that the composer has with God, a composition like the Magnificat is rather overt in its source of inspiration. That source is none other than “Mary’s Song,” right out of the Gospel of Matthew. My faith led me to set these words as it has led me to set other Biblical passages and Christian texts before. In every case, the music does not, in my mind, play a secondary role to the text; rather, it enhances it and brings it into a new kind of being. There is something about hearing over a hundred voices backed by an orchestra repeating the words “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” that has a profound impact on an audience.

Composer Biography

J. Ryan Garber is Assistant Professor of Music at Carson-Newman College where he teaches Composition, Theory, Organ, and Bassoon. A native of Virginia, he received two music degrees from James Madison University and a Doctor of Music degree from The Florida State University. His composition teachers have included Ladislav Kubik, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and John Hilliard.

As a composer, Garber has received awards and recognition from ASCAP, The College Music Society, the American Composers Forum, and the American Music Center, among others. In 2002, the Tennessee Music Teachers Association presented Garber with its “Tennessee Composer of the Year” award that included a commission to compose a new work that was performed at their 2003 Convention in Nashville.

Garber’s music is routinely selected for performance at national and regional conferences of the College Music Society, Society of Composers Inc., and the Southeastern Composers League, among others. His compositions have also been well received by colleges and independent groups such as the Salem Choral Society.

Recent performances of Garber’s music include Piano Quintet at the University of Floriday; Resonances (for piano) at Vanderbilt University, James Madison University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Central Oklahoma; Songs for My God (a song cycle for tenor and piano) at Butler University and the University of Georgia; Te Deum (for chorus, organ, and brass) by the Salem (VA) Choral Society, and Symphony for Winds at the University of Georgia and Arkansas State University (Jonesboro).

- - -  SOLI DEO GLORIA!  - - -

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