Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Short Service) (Richard Ayleward)
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- Editor: Hugo Janacek (submitted 2022-04-22). Score information: A4, 14 pages, 1.03 MB Copyright: CPDL
- Edition notes: This edition is set at the original written pitch, suitable for SAATB. A realisation of Ayleward’s own organ part has been provided, but the work can also be performed unaccompanied. A complete original set of ornamentation for the topmost part has also been provided. It is found in the original parts, and dates from the late 1600s.
- Editor: Hugo Janacek (submitted 2022-04-22). Score information: A4, 14 pages, 1.03 MB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: This edition has been transposed down a tone from the original written pitch. It can be performed either by ATTTB or ATTBB. A realisation of Ayleward’s own organ part has been provided, but the work can also be performed unaccompanied. A complete original set of ornamentation for the topmost part has also been provided. It is found in the original parts, and dates from the late 1600s.
General Information
Title: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Short Service)
Composer: Richard Ayleward
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 5vv Voicings: SAATB, ATTTB or ATTBB
Genre: Sacred, Evening Canticles
Language: English
Instruments: Organ, A Capella
First published: ca. 1669
Description: This service is a late composition by Ayleward, and is quite possibly the very last work he composed. It was written while he was Organist at Norwich Cathedral, and was written for the choir and organ of that place. From an account of Michael Woodward, a warden of New College, we know that work on the service had only recently started in the spring of 1667, just two years before Ayleward’s death. This is his only surviving setting for full choir, with all his other surviving choral material being verse settings. It is a complete service, setting all the canticles and sung passages for the day that were used at Norwich Cathedral at the time.
The service is in the Short Service mould. It is full throughout, with antiphonal passages in many of the canticles – although not the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. A complete set of contemporary ornamentation survives for the Evening Canticles.
External websites:
Original text and translations
Original text and translations may be found at Magnificat and Nunc dimittis.