The Magnificat: the Canticle of the Virgin Mary, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," crowns the Catholic office of evening Vespers; very early in the European Renaissance, musical composers began to provide elaborate settings in polyphony for the choirs of court and cathedral. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to both determine their authentic work and to reconstruct its original form. In the case of Antoine Brumel, his name appears attached to at least six different settings of the Magnificat, but twice with conflicting attributions to Josquin Desprez, Alexander Agricola, and Pierre de la Rue. Even in cases where the music is more likely authentic, the variant customs of different churches can affect the way in which Brumel's music survives. The most common type of setting, called alternatim, alternates verses intoned in plainchant and verses that embellish the proper plainchant with polyphony; different choirs, however, might perform all 12 verses in polyphony. Brumel's best-known Magnificat setting, that in the second tone, survives in at least three distinct arrangements. Several widely scattered manuscripts contain Brumel's Magnificat Secundi Toni with the six even verses in polyphony, clearly intended for alternation singing. Each of the six verses begins with a Point of Imitation based upon the appropriate plainchant for singing a Magnificat in the second tone (much as psalms could be recited in different tones); that same chant generally occupies the uppermost voice. Sometimes important fragments of the text are sung by the top voice (or the tenor) in overt recitation on a single pitch; at other times, the chant is highly embellished. Often, the chant stands out in long notes, while the other voices weave rhythmic sequences about it. The eighth verse (Esurientes) changes texture by using only a pair of voices, and the tenth (Sicut locutus est) breaks into a triple meter. Yet a second, closely related version of this setting gives an elaborately ornamented reading, as if documenting improvisatory practice for a different church. Another manuscript, the only one to put Brumel's name on the Magnificat, redistributes the music of these six verses and adds two more (one possibly unrelated), to allow for strophic performance of the entire Canticle. Brumel's modern editor argues that the text doesn't fit this arrangement as well, and suggests that the alternatim setting was earlier. It might very well be true that Brumel only arranged this Magnificat: one manuscript with the first (alternatim) setting bears the name "Fr. Benalt."

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