are set for soloists, as a single voice or combined into duets and trios. The twelve movements of the Magnificat canticle 1. Magnificat ("My spirit gives great praise to the Lord", ) is the text used for the opening chorus. The movement consists of 6 blocks of 15 measures, totalling 90 bars of music, exactly half of them with choral singing: Measure 1–30: the orchestra presents itself with what looks like a ritornello, but is in fact rather a concerto tutti. The movement has the form of an Italian aria, modelled after the concerto style Bach had developed in Köthen: in that style the material is presented in an instrumental tutti. Measure 1–15: the motive played by oboe I in the first measure sets the jubilant tone of the tutti. It is the first of two main motives. Measure 16–30: in measure 16, almost imperceptible in the whirling movement of other instruments, violin I presents a new motive: it is the second main motive. The last measures before the entrance of the choir that motive is repeated by multiple instruments. First motive (as sung by sopranos I in measure 31): Second motive (as sung by the tenors in measure 35): Measure 31–75: accompanied by the continuo, the chorus enters as a concerto soloist, imitating the opening material. Measure 31–45: The sopranos enter first, with the first main motive, and from measure 32 alto and tenor imitate the same. The basses enter from measure 33 while the full orchestra plays a short intervention for two measures. In measures 35–36 the chorus sings the second main motive from the opening tutti. After that the orchestra dominates again, with the chorus following or giving contrasting melodies. From the end of measure 37 voices one after another start singing "anima mea", until in the last three measures of this block all singers take the text (the Lord) once, all of them with the last syllable of that word on the first beat of the 45th measure, after which the orchestra, apart from the continuo, is silent till the beginning of measure 47: the singers bridge the central barline between measures 45 and 46 with the first main motive sung by altos, sopranos I and sopranos II consecutively. Measure 46–60: after the sopranos recapitulate the start of the movement with their voices, and a brief intervention by the orchestra in measures 47–48, the second main