Who originally composed Ave Maria?

Answer 1

"The Ave Maria was composed in about 1825 by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) when he was twenty-eight years old and filled with devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was written for voice and piano and first Published in 1826 as Op 52 no 6. The words most commonly used with Schubert's music are not the words that the composer originally set to music. Franz Schubert actually wrote the music for an excerpt from the poem "The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), which was translated into German by Adam Storck. Schubert called his piece Ellens dritter Gesang (Ellen's third song). In this particular excerpt from the poem the heroine, Ellen Douglas, is in hiding and prays to the Virgin Mary. A letter from Schubert to his father and step-mother refers to his music to Ave Maria"

http://www.sissel.cc/avemariesch.html

Answer 2

The melodic structure of the most famous and popular one is originally from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Prelude No. 1 in C major.

Schubert adapted this into "Ellen's dritter Gesang, D.839", which may have been an inspiration to Charles Gounod.

Later, Gounod used the Bach prelude as a musical setting for the prayer "Ave Maria". Gounod's arrangement is the one most familiar as "Ave Maria".

Answer 3

The prayer has been in use since the Middle Ages. I don't know how many musical versions there have been all told; I am familiar with three of them.

The oldest version that I'm familiar with is the one by Spanish composer/priest Tomas Luis da Victoria, who lived from 1548 to 1611. It's hauntingly beautiful; you can hear parts of it in the soundtrack to the Charles Laughton film version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." I've had the pleasure of performing this as well as two other pieces by Victoria, O Magnum Mysterium and Super Flumina Babylonis. Few composers have done a better job of capturing the glory, mystery and numinous grandeur of the spiritual experience than Victoria.

I also know at least two other pieces of music that use the Ave Maria as their lyric: Franz Schubert's familiar version from 1825 (used at the end of the Disney film "Fantasia"), and Charles Gounoud's adaptation of a Bach keyboard piece, with a vocal part superimposed over a particularly beautiful structure of arpeggios.

Interestingly enough, I stumbled across a publication of the Schubert and Bach-Gounod Ave Marias from Sheetmusic.com. I haven't yet found a date for his adaptation of the Bach piece, but the Wikipedia entry says it was "later in life," and he lived to 1893.

However... even da Victoria was predated by the Gregorian chant version of Ave Maria (attributed to "anonymous" in all the records I have found). And that in turn was predated by the prayer itself; the earliest recorded version of the words to the prayer are from 1030 AD, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (final link in the Sources field), though the exact wording evolved (if I may be forgiven for using that term in this context) over the centuries.

So to address your question... while there was at least one unattributed Gregorian chant from several centuries earlier, the first attributed piece of music to which the Ave Maria was set is probably da Victoria's. It's also my favorite of the three I know; I highly recommend listening to it if you have any interest in sixteenth-century liturgical music, and to other pieces by Victoria and his mentor, Pierluigi Palestrina. They're all worth listening to, but this one is truly other-worldly.

Answer 4

Franz Schubert

Answer 5

There are more than one `Ave Maria'. Even Luciano Pavarotti wrote one. The most WELL KNOWN and popular ones are by Bach/Gounod and Schubert. Check them out and let us know which one's your favourite.

Answer 6

Franz Shubert

Answer 7

Charles Gounod did the most famous version, accompanied by Bach's background.

Of course there were others by Schubert, Mozart, Verdi, etc.

Answer 8

Which Ave Maria do you mean?

Answer 9

Franz Shubert

One of my all time favorite songs to hear anytime of the year. It gives me goosebumps.

Answer 10

schubert