Herbert Howells

Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis - York

Herbert Howells is a giant of 20th century Anglican church music, the remainder of whose oeuvre is in the process of gaining new appreciation. Over the course of his compositional life, he created many settings for the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis. Howells made a practice of writing his settings for these texts and completed services specifically for the church buildings or cathedrals in which they were to be performed. In this way he wrote works for the cathedrals of St Paul's, Worcester and Gloucester as well as Westminster Abbey, King's College -- Cambridge, New College -- Oxford, and St John's College --Cambridge, among others. This setting was written for Francis Jacksonand the Choir of York Minster in 1973.