Hugo Cole (1917-1995) was a British composer cellist and music critic. He studied under Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He is best remembered for writing several operas and choral works as well as much chamber music but he also wrote a series of pedagogical Cello books and had a successful career as a music critic for The Guardian and Country Life. Cole’s Magnificat was set in the key of G major and first published in 1957. It is scored for Female or Boys’ Choir (SSAA) with Piano accompaniment.

O that we were there! is a text taken from the Christian hymn In Dulci Jubilo. It expresses a longing to be present at the Incarnation of Christ but it also conveys a longing to be out of the world oftime and space and in an eternal world.This work was written for Sherborne Girls in gratitude for having educated my daughters Theodora and Sofia. It is dedicated to the memory of Blossom Perronelle Barrow who died ofcancer aged 12.