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.

Written for an obscure short-lived musical that never made it to Broadway this song caught the ear of Nat King Cole who promptly recorded it in 1956 and it became a lesser-known standard in the great American songbook. It has since been recorded by artists such as Johnny Mathis Dinah Washington Diane Schuur and Diana Krall. Accessible and hard-swinging this is a perfect addition to any male or female quartet or chorus repertoire!

A series of outstanding songs taken from the bestselling Close Harmony Ladies' Barbershop Songbook selected for their appropriateness for female singers arranged for close-harmony quartets or women's choirs.Nicholas Hare's beautifully crafted arrangements for SSAA are suitable for anything from four to four hundred singers. He has added helpful performance notes for each of the songs and the arrangements are notated on two stave for easy piano rehearsal.