Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen

Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen or Seven Magnificat-Antiphons for mixed choir a cappella were composed in 1988. As the title indicates, these are seven antiphons sung in the Roman Catholic liturgy during Evening Prayer on the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve (from 17 to 23 December): one antiphon with a magnificat (the Song of Mary) each day. In many languages these are also known as the Greater Antiphons or O-Antiphons, because each of them begins with a respectful appeal to Christ: “O Wisdom”, “O the Key of David”, “O Morning Star” etc.

Arvo Pärt has assembled these prayers into one comprehensive concert piece based on the German text of the antiphons. The work is composed in rigorous tintinnabuli style, but each part has its o…

Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen or Seven Magnificat-Antiphons for mixed choir a cappella were composed in 1988. As the title indicates, these are seven antiphons sung in the Roman Catholic liturgy during Evening Prayer on the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve (from 17 to 23 December): one antiphon with a magnificat (the Song of Mary) each day. In many languages these are also known as the Greater Antiphons or O-Antiphons, because each of them begins with a respectful appeal to Christ: “O Wisdom”, “O the Key of David”, “O Morning Star” etc.

Arvo Pärt has assembled these prayers into one comprehensive concert piece based on the German text of the antiphons. The work is composed in rigorous tintinnabuli style, but each part has its own complete form and individual character, which is why they are sometimes performed as separate miniatures at concerts. Consecutive antiphons often contrast with each other: a new key, a new dynamic, a changed texture, or direction of the movement of the voices draws the listener’s attention to the important image in the text, highlighting its essence.

In the first antiphon, the entire choir covering its full vocal range sings about the Wisdom that fills “the world from end to end”; the second antiphon with an archaic-sounding quint drone is about Moses and the laws of the Old Testament; the third antiphon, O Root of Jesse, is rushing upwards in dissonant ties; and the words of the sixth antiphon, O King of All People, assert themselves in all three layers of the texture and in three different paces. The work culminates in the pair of two opposing antiphons, the fourth and the fifth, which cover the symmetrical middle point of the cycle as well as the point of the golden ratio. In musical terms they differ from each other in texture, dynamic as well as harmony. O Key of David is a worship song for Christ the Almighty Ruler and the Conqueror of Death, sung in full-fledged fortissimo chords in A minor. O Morning Star, on the other hand, is a delicate and silent prayer to Christ as “the Splendour of Eternal Light”, where the music is accented by voices alternating between major and minor (soprano and tenor in E major, alto and bass in E minor), giving it a mysterious character. In the seventh antiphon, O Emmanuel, we can hear the musical material already familiar from the first antiphon, binding the entire cycle into a whole.

The Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen were composed by commission of the RIAS chamber choir in Berlin in celebration of their 40th anniversary, and is also dedicated to the choir. The premiere of the composition, on 11 October 1998 in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, was conducted by Marcus Creed.

In 2008, Arvo Pärt composed an instrumental version of the piece for cello octet, giving it a name O-Antiphonen. The work was commissioned and premiered by the cello octet Conjunto Ibérico, later renamed as Cello8ctet Amsterdam, to whom it is also dedicated.

In 2015, another version for string orchestra was completed and retitled Greater Antiphons, jointly commissioned by the conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Society. It was premiered during the Mozart & Pärt Festival at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles by Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This version of the composition is dedicated to Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.