The by John Rutter is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat, completed in 1990. The extended composition in seven movements "for soprano or mezzo-soprano solo, mixed choir, and orchestra (or chamber ensemble)" is based on the Latin text, interspersed with "Of a Rose, a lovely Rose", an anonymous English poem on Marian themes, the beginning of the and a prayer to Mary. The music includes elements of Latin American music. The composer conducted the first performance in Carnegie Hall on 26 May 1990, and the first recording with the Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia. Oxford University Press published in 1991 and Of a Rose, a lovely Rose separately in 1998. While the canticle was often set to music, being a regular part of Catholic vespers and Anglican evensong, Rutter's work is one of few extended settings, along with Bach's composition. Critical reception has been mixed, appreciating that the "orchestration is brilliant and very colourful" and "the music weaves a magical spell of balm and peace", but also experiencing a "virtual encyclopedia of musical cliches, a ... predictable exercise in glitzy populism". History and text The or Song of Mary is one of the three New Testament canticles, the others being and . Mary sings the song on the occasion of her visit to Elizabeth, as narrated in the Gospel of Luke (). It is a daily part in Catholic vesper services and Anglican Evening Prayer. Rutter followed the tradition of setting it to music, especially the work by Johann Sebastian Bach which also structures the text in movements of different character. was composed on a commission by MidAmerica Productions, a concert organisation in New York performing in Carnegie Hall with a choir of about 200 voices selected in the United States. Rutter was inspired by "jubilant celebrations of Mary in Hispanic cultures" and conceived the work as a "bright Latin-flavoured fiesta". In addition to the liturgical Latin text, he chose a 15th-century poem, which compares Mary to a rose. In the third movement, the beginning of the is inserted after the mentioning of "sanctum nomen eius" (his holy name). The text of the doxology in the last movement is interspersed with a prayer to Mary, "" (Holy Mary, help those in need). Rutter supplied a singing version in English for the complete work. Music and scoring The composer wrote: Musicologist John Bawden notes that Rutter's