Joan Whittemore

Magnificat In A Minor

This 'Magnificat' for treble voices with optional strings is by the Baroque composer Nicola Porpora and edited by Joan Whittemore. It consists of six contrasting choral movements and was written for the 'figlie des coro' (female studtents) at the 'Ospedale di Santa Maria dei Derelitto' (Hospital Santa Maria dei Derelitto) in Venice in 1745. Although the autograph manuscript is lost, Carl von Winterfeld (1784-1852) made a copy that survived in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin.Editor Whittemore has stayed true to this original score which results in a clean score without dynamics or slurs which give the conductor and singers the opportunity prepare this using all of the scholarship available.