Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago

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Listen to Howard Helvey’s arrangement of the Canticle of Simeon, “Nunc Dimittis.” Using the 1662 translation from the Book of Common Prayer, Helvey has crafted a beautiful and moving setting of Simeon’s declaration upon his encounter with the infant Christ. The piece, for a cappella SATB choir, has an effective musical arc, going from a syllabic setting lower in the tessitura to a soaring, more melismatic character toward the end (especially apparent on the words “light” and “glory”). The part writing is clear and openly voiced and there is occasional use of shifting meter to accommodate word stress.

Text: Luke 2:29–32, fr. Book of Common Prayer, 1662. Music © 2012, Howard Helvey (ASCAP). Published by TRINITAS. All rights reserved.

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