The song of Simeon Op.41 (Nunc Dimittis)
Symphonic Cantata for solo tenor, choir and symphony orchestra

(2025) [11:00]
LMB-OP-041-00-X-2025

Nunc dimittis

LMB-OP-041-01-X-2025

Quia viderunt

LMB-OP-041-02-X-2025

Lumen ad revelationem

LMB-OP-043-01-X-2025

Gloria Patri

LMB-OP-041-04-X-2025

Instrumentation: solo tenor, choir and symphony orchestra
Dedication: Laurence Traiger
First performance | Interpreters: 28 November 2025 – Herkulessaal der Residenz – Munich – Michael Butler, tenor – MaxChor and MaxVokal – Orchestra Ensemble Lodron – Gerald Häußler, conductor.
Subsequent performances:
Edition: unpublished work
Description: Symphonic cantata on the liturgical text of Simeon’s hymn “Nunc dimittis” (Luke 2,29-32). The piece is dedicated to my composition teacher Prof. Laurence Traiger and was commissioned by the MaxChor in Munich for a big symphonic benefit concert.

COMPOSER’S BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE CANTATA ‘THE SONG OF SIMEON’ Op.41

I am particularly grateful to the MaxChor and its conductor Gerald Häußler for commissioning me to write a piece to be performed at this charity concert.
One of the main reasons for this gratitude is that they gave me complete freedom in choosing the text and form of the composition; the only restriction was that it should not exceed ten minutes in length.
Based on these conditions, I immediately thought of a short cantata for solo voice, choir and orchestra. But the text to be used remained open and unknown, as it not only had to be concise in order to comply with the prescribed duration, but also had to be in keeping with the charitable purpose of the concert. And finding such a text would certainly not have been easy. But as so often happens in such cases, when you spend days and weeks searching for the ideal text, everything was resolved in an instant when I picked up a booklet with the texts of the Liturgy of the Hours, which contained the text I used for ‘The Song of Simeon’.

The Nunc dimittis, also known as ‘Simeon’s Song of Praise,’ is one of the most sublime and moving texts in the Holy Scriptures. Originally recorded in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:29–32), it describes the moment when the elderly Simeon sees the baby Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem and realises that his life’s purpose has now been fulfilled. He can now depart in peace – a message marked by deep gratitude, holy tranquillity and the certainty of divine promise.
This hymn summarises an existential theme: the longing for fulfilment, the finding of comfort and the final detachment from all earthly things. Old Simeon had devoted his life to waiting – waiting for the salvation of Israel, for the revelation of God, for the arrival of the one who would bring light into the darkness. Now that he has seen the divine child, he realises that his eyes have seen salvation, that the Messiah has come, and that his life’s purpose has been fulfilled.
The symbolism is deeply rooted: Simeon speaks not only for himself, but for all of humanity, which longs for redemption. Jesus appears as a light for the Gentiles and as the glory of Israel. This connects the theme of universal expectation of salvation with its concrete fulfilment in Christ – a moment in which prophecy and reality converge.

Throughout music history, various composers have set this text to music, especially many from the Anglo-Saxon tradition, where the song plays a special role in Anglican liturgy. However, there are very few pieces dedicated to the ‘Nunc dimittis’ that use such a powerful orchestra as I am able to use for my version, which, according to my initial research, may be the first of its kind in music history.
This cantata is my first such extensive work since the forced interruption of the private composition course I had begun several years ago under Prof. Traiger. Prof. Laurence Traiger passed away unexpectedly last October.

The cantata begins with an arioso for solo tenor. According to the rules of musical tradition, biblical characters of a certain age, as is the case with Simeon, are represented by deep voices. However, I decided to use a tenor for my cantata. A tenor voice is usually associated with a young, lively and hopeful character, especially in the opera tradition, just as Simeon’s song is full of life and hope.
In this first arioso and in its first bars, the celesta enters with an eight-step scale. In Christian theological tradition, the number eight is seen as a symbol of new beginnings, resurrection and new life in Christ. The early Church Fathers regarded Sunday as the ‘eighth day’. In Jewish tradition, too, the number eight symbolises a new beginning. According to the Kabbalah in the Zohar, the number eight stands for this because the eighth day was the first day after creation on which God went back to work – the week began anew. Furthermore, in Jewish tradition, circumcision usually takes place on the eighth day after birth.

This is followed by a short aria, also for solo tenor, with a very romantic character. The beautiful text inspired me to write in the style of Italian bel canto.
This is followed by a choir with the dedication ‘Hommage à Ravel’ (whose 150th birthday we are celebrating this year), in which the melody sung by the tenor is taken up first individually, then in canon by the male and female voices of the choir, against an orchestral background rhythmically inspired by the Frenchman’s most famous composition, which everyone will surely recognise. In this case, however, the dynamics are reversed, and the movement ends with the choir and orchestra slowly fading away. The text is about the people of Israel, and I imagined it as a huge, singing caravan passing by me and then disappearing into the distance in the desert. This choir concludes the text spoken by Simeon in the Gospel of Luke.

But following the old tradition of Christian prayer, which concludes a psalm or hymn with the Gloria Patri, the short doxology that has its roots in the fourth century AD, I also wanted to use this beautiful text to end my cantata. The majestic ‘Gloria Patri’ is followed by the ‘Sicut erat’, structured in the form of a fugue, for which I used the theme of a fugue from my suite for violin and viola: this very fugue was the subject of my last composition lesson with my composition teacher Prof. Traiger.
This cantata is dedicated to him.

Lucio Mosè Benaglia
www.luciomosebenaglia.com

Munich, 28 November 2025
Charity concert in aid of the Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem