Magnificat in D

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat BWV 243 was composed in its first form in E flat, right at the beginning of Bach’s period in Leipzig, for the Visitation of Mary on 2.7.1723; for a further performance on the 1st day of Christmas, Bach added four extra Christmas movements following a Leipzig tradition. Only in the 1730s did Bach arrange the Magnificat in the well-known version in D; the orchestration was slightly altered, particularly improving the considerable practical performance problems encountered in the E flat major version. Our critical new edition contains the version of the Magnificat in D, based on Bach’s autograph score. For Christmas performances the extra movements are available separately, transposed for performance with the D major version of the Magnificat (Carus 31.243/50).