Scored for contralto solo, women's chorus and orchestra, Vaughan Williams composed his Magnificat in 1932 as a performance vehicle for the contralto, Astra Desmond, to whom the work is dedicated, and who premiered the work at the Worcester Festival in September of that year. Despite the obvious religious implications inherent in the use of the Magnificat text, the composer intended the work for concert performance, not liturgical use, preferring instead to remove the words from what he considered to be the rather smug manner in which they were usually presented.

Compositionally, Vaughan Williams treats the words in a rather undogmatic fashion. Although the manner in which he utilizes his forces does show an in-depth understanding of his subject matter, the setting seems more literary than religious. The Virgin's joy is characterized in the soloist's vocal line by its florid nature, as flute cadenzas are used to represent the Holy Spirit. Although the orchestration is at times rather stark, possessing an almost Holstian character (the accompaniment is characterized by high, closely knit chords that would seem equally at home in the Hymn of Jesus or the Ode to Death), the work has all the characteristics that one would expect of a setting of the Magnificat text; which is, at its heart, a joyous expression of praise.

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