From the Organist & Choirmaster

This Sunday at our 10:30 am High Mass for The Presentation of Our Lord we will read Simeon’s praising of God from Luke’s Gospel. This “song” of Simeon is known as the Nunc Dimittis. This Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words of the passage meaning, “Now you let depart.” According to the Gospel narrative, Simeon was a devout Jew who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, Simeon was there and took Jesus into his arms and uttered the words of the Nunc Dimittis.

The Nunc Dimittis is the traditional Gospel Canticle for Compline and is found in many liturgical night offices, including the Anglican office of Evensong. Many composers have set the text to music coupled with the Magnificat, or Song of Mary. Hundreds of composers have set the text to music, it’s a common practice for composition students in England to complete a set of canticles in order to be eligible for graduation. This Sunday the Parish Choir will sing Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s Nunc Dimittis from her King’s College Service in F. L’Estrange is a Scottish composer who was born in 1970, she is known for her feminist platform and has set many texts of influential women to music. Her King’s College Canticles have been sung at Saint Andrew’s at Evensong and were also used during our UK residency last year.