Commissioned by the composer's college music instructor, William Reese, for his choir in Rockland County, New York, Schickele's setting of the first part of the Magnificat text. It was premiered in April of 1998 by the Rockland Camerata. As most of Schickele's choral works are secular, this is a rare and truly lovely contribution to the sacred choral library from a well-known composer. From Schickele's notes: "In the outer sections of the work the three musical entities (chorus, piano, and the strings) are given overlapping homophonic phrases much in the manner of Monteverdi's and the Gabrielis' antiphonal choir pieces in early 17th-century Venice, although, of course, the harmonic language is completely different. The middle sections feature lyrical vocal lines over repeated instrumental figures, leading to a climactic ending." String parts available on rental. Duration: 4'30"