Weimar, March 14, 1714. He early devoted himself to music, and coming to
Berlin when twenty-four years old was appointed Chamber musician (Kammer
Musicus) in the Royal Chapel, where he often accompanied Frederick the
Great (who was an accomplished flutist) on the harpsichord. His most
numerous compositions were piano music but he wrote a celebrated
"Sanctus," and two oratorios, besides a number of chorals, of which
"Weimar" is one. He died in Hamburg, Dec. 14, 1788.


THE MAGNIFICAT.
[Greek: Megalunei hê psuchê mou ton Kurion.]

Magnificat anima mea Dominum,
Et exultavit Spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
Luke 1:46-55.

We can date with some certainty the hymn itself composed by the Virgin
Mary, but when it first became a song of the Christian Church no one can
tell. Its thanksgiving may have found tone among the earliest martyrs,
who, as Pliny tells us, sang hymns in their secret worship. We can only
trace it back to the oldest chant music, when it was doubtless sung by
both the Eastern and Western Churches. In the rude liturgies of the 4th
and 5th centuries it must have begun to assume ritual form; but it
remained for the more modern school of composers hundreds of years later
to illustrate the "Magnificat" with the melody of art and genius.
Superseding the primitive unisonous plain-song, the old parallel
concords, and the simple faburden (faux bourdon) counterpoint that
succeeded Gregory, they taught how musical tones can better assist
worship with the beauty of harmony and the precision of scientific
taste. Musicians in Italy, France, Germany and England have contributed