{"id":217737,"date":"2019-09-10T18:45:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T16:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/217737\/sings-prayers-twice-listen-two-beautiful-ave-marias\/"},"modified":"2019-09-10T18:45:28","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T16:45:28","slug":"sings-prayers-twice-listen-two-beautiful-ave-marias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2019\/09\/10\/sings-prayers-twice-listen-two-beautiful-ave-marias\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShe who sings prays twice\u201d \u2013 Listen to two stunningly beautiful versions of <em>Ave Maria<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Art and faith<\/h3>\n<p>Protestants, Catholics, the Orthodox Churches, Evangelicals and more may differ significantly on theological issues, but few can disagree that the impulse to craft something that speaks to the mystery of God has resulted in an outpouring of artistic creation of the highest order.<\/p>\n<p>From the Sistine Chapel, to the Notre-Dame de Paris, to sacred music of all sorts; art, music and religion have worked hand in glove over many centuries to produce some of the most valued artefacts of western culture.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>This remains true for faiths across the world, too.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_215964\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215964\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-215964\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2019\/06\/16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"950\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215964\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sculpted by Michaelangelo, his <em>Pieta<\/em> (&#8220;The Pity&#8221;) depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of Mary after the Crucifixion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>It should come as some surprise, then, that two of the most famous (and loved) versions of the <\/em>Ave Maria<em> were not intially composed with religious sentiments in mind.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<h3>A very quick overview of <em>Ave Maria<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><em>Ave Maria<\/em> is Latin for Hail Mary, a prayer that is perhaps best known as a component of a larger prayer called the Holy Rosary.<\/p>\n<p>The prayer is essentially a petition that asks the Virgin Mary to intercede on the speaker\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>The opening two lines of the prayer are taken from the Gospel of Luke: the first references the Archangel Gabriel greeting Mary with, \u201cHail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The second greeting is offered by Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist: \u201cBlessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb [Jesus]\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The second half of the prayer \u2013 the petition element \u2013 was given the go ahead by the Roman Catholic Church in 1556.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_215960\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215960\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-215960 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2019\/06\/15.jpg\" width=\"950\" height=\"950\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215960\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The currently accepted Latin <em>Ave Maria<\/em> and its English translation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Charles Gounod and Johann Sebastian Bach<\/h3>\n<p><em><strong>Watch \u2013 Kimi Skota sings the Bach\/Gounod <\/strong><\/em><strong>Ave Maria<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class='tie-fluid-width-video-wrapper tie-ignore-fitvid' style='margin-bottom: 30px;'>\n\t\t\t<iframe style='width: 100%; min-height: 300px; aspect-ratio: 16\/9;' src='https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/9KKX2ZwD_R0' loading='lazy'><\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>The music for the above version belongs to two composers who lived a century apart. In 1852, the French composer, Charles Gounod, was improvising a melody over a prelude published by J.S. Bach in 1722 in Book 1 of his <em>The Well Tempered Clavier<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This new melody played over Bach\u2019s Prelude No. 1 in C major immediately caught the attention of Gounod\u2019s fianc\u00e9e&#8217;s father, who wrote the melody down.<\/p>\n<p>The composition was initially an instrumental piece, and although there are conflicting accounts about the chronology of when lyrics first appeared, it seems to be accepted that they came from a poetic verse written by Alphonse de Lamartine.<\/p>\n<p>The verse is themed around love and the fleetingness of life.<\/p>\n<p>As the story goes, Gounod sent a version of the piece with Lamartine&#8217;s lyrics to a young, beautiful and married singer who was a student of his as a gift.<\/p>\n<p>In the account given by the composer&#8217;s great grandson, Gounod felt an abiding tenderness for his student.<\/p>\n<p>The amorous verse was, however, noticed by the young lady\u2019s mother in law. She understood that the composer had developed an affection for her son&#8217;s wife, Rosalie Jousset.<\/p>\n<p>She wrote to Gounod, suggesting that a more appropriate subject for the composition would be the <em>Ave Maria<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The Hail Mary was written beneath Lamartine\u2019s poem, possibly not as a chastisement <em>per se<\/em>, but as a subtle hint that his feelings could simply not be returned.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps out of embarassment, or perhaps seeing the suggestion as genuinely insightful, Gounod then wrote the <em>Ave Maria<\/em> we have today. It was officially published in 1859.<\/p>\n<h3>Franz Schubert<\/h3>\n<p><em><strong>Watch \u2013 Chlo\u00eb Agnew sings Franz Schubert\u2019s Ave Maria<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class='tie-fluid-width-video-wrapper tie-ignore-fitvid' style='margin-bottom: 30px;'>\n\t\t\t<iframe style='width: 100%; min-height: 300px; aspect-ratio: 16\/9;' src='https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/usADINi17cI' loading='lazy'><\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>The second <em>Ave Maria<\/em> is based on a composition by Franz Schubert (his Opus 52). In it he sets music to an epic poem, <em>The Lady of the Lake<\/em>, written by the poet Sir Walter Scott.<\/p>\n<p>The poem, for Schubert\u2019s composition, was translated into German.<\/p>\n<p>In the song, the Lady of the Lake (a character named Ellen Douglas) asks the Virgin to intercede on her behalf in a time of trouble. The song begins with the words, \u201cAve Maria\u201d, but it is not the prayer appearing above.<\/p>\n<p>The following excerpt from the first verse can be compared to the earlier English translation:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Ave Maria! maiden mild!<\/p>\n<p>Listen to a maiden&#8217;s prayer!<\/p>\n<p>Thou canst hear though from the wild;<\/p>\n<p>Thou canst save amid despair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The original lyrics are in German, and it is not an accepted Hail Mary that the character sings. The application of a slightly altered <em>Ave Maria<\/em> only occurred later.<\/p>\n<p>With this said, the theme of the song \u2013 an unofficial Hail Mary of sorts \u2013 and the incredible music Schubert wrote for it, made its transition into a religious context an easy affair.<\/p>\n<h3>What really matters<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_215971\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215971\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-215971 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2019\/06\/14.jpg\" width=\"950\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Franz Schubert (left) and Charles Gounod (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Despite the unexpected origins of these two beautiful pieces of music, what we\u2019re left with today can\u2019t be diminished. Their merit is undeniable, and their power to move us is what truly matters.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.tysflo.io\/?mid=qov5TQ3x&amp;t=c&amp;fco=0\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-225953 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2017\/01\/listen-live-1-1.jpg\" width=\"758\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='e07142252b9839d66b7401c4230eb569'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every version of the <strong><em>Ave Maria<\/em><\/strong> is haunting, and all have the power, even for many of the non-religious, to strike chords deep within. But our two selections may not have the beginnings you&#8217;d expect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7971,"featured_media":217739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Caxton Central","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[28824,28825,28826,28827,28828,28751,28829],"class_list":["post-217737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-ave-maria","tag-charles-gounod","tag-charles-gounod-ave-maria","tag-chloe-agnew","tag-classic-1027","tag-classic-fm","tag-franz-schubert-ave-maria"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["ave maria","charles gounod","charles gounod ave maria","chloe agnew","classic 1027","classic fm","franz schubert ave maria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}