Meine Seele erhebt den Herren

This article is about Luther's translation of the Magnificat and its traditional setting. For other German Magnificats, see German Magnificat.

Meine Seele erhebt den Herren (My soul magnifies the Lord) is Martin Luther's translation of the Magnificat canticle. It is traditionally sung to a German variant of the tonus peregrinus, a rather exceptional psalm tone in Gregorian chant.[1] The tonus peregrinus (or ninth tone) is associated with the ninth mode or Aeolian mode.[2] For the traditional setting of Luther's German Magnificat that is the minor mode for which the last note of the melodic formula is the tonic, a fifth below its opening note.

Traditional D minor setting of Luther's German Magnificat, which is a particular German version of the ninth tone or tonus peregrinus[1]
  1. ^ a b Lundberg 2012 p. 7-17
  2. ^ Lundberg 2012, p. 45