Choir Performs Finzi's "Magnificat" December 20th

On December 20, 2009, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign's Adult Choir, accompanied by organist Kent Conrad, will present Gerald Finzi's "Magnificat". Finzi composed this setting of the Canticle of Mary for the choirs of Smith and Amherst Colleges, where it was first performed during a candle-lit Christmas Vespers concert in 1952. Finzi was interested to compose a non-liturgical setting of this text, hence the placement of an "Amen" where typically a "Gloria Patri" would have concluded the work. Composed under server time constraints, Finzi's son, Christopher, recalls how his father composed the "Amen" that concludes the piece on the way to the post office, on the back of the completed score. The work captures in unique and striking fashion the joy, wonder, and depth of purpose evident both in the creative impulse of Finzi's musicianship and the record of Mary's reflections on her place in the New Testament story. Please join us for this remarkable performance.