A Timeline of the Ave Maria
We all know it, we all love it. The Ave Maria (Hail Mary) has been set to music perhaps more than any other prayer, stretching back to the medieval period and showing no signs of stopping here in our current times.
Since May is the month traditionally dedicated by the Catholic Church to Mary, the Blessed Mother, we thought it would be a great idea to trace a timeline of Ave Maria settings and share those here.
To start, let’s chat about the history of the Ave Maria prayer itself.
Rooted in Scripture, the Ave Maria — or Hail Mary in English — finds its origins in the Gospel of Luke. The first part of the prayer is taken directly from Scripture, specifically the Gospel of Luke:
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
The second half of the prayer is indirectly rooted in Scripture through beliefs about Mary that developed from scriptural study over time. The final version of the prayer was standardized in the 1500s.
Chants based on the first half of the prayer date back into the medieval period. Interestingly, although the second half of the Hail Mary wasn’t standardized until the 16th century, composers had been experimenting with petitions following the first half for quite some time prior.
Renaissance and Baroque Settings
There are numerous settings of the Ave Maria found in the Renaissance time period. Among the most notable of these are Josquin de Prez’s motet Ave Maria, Virgo Serena (which only uses the first line of the Hail Mary) and Tomas Luis de Victoria’s gorgeous, contrapuntal setting.
Moving into the Baroque period, there are less settings to be found. Might this have something to do with the immediate aftermath from the Protestant Reformation? Correlation does not equal causation, but the correlation here is worth pondering.
J.S. Bach, for all his creative output, did not compose an Ave Maria. The Ave Maria attributed to him uses his prelude #1 in C major from The Well Tempered Clavier as the accompaniment to a vocal line written by French composer Charles Gounod in the 19th century. One Baroque composer who did compose a setting of the Ave Maria, however, is the 17th century composer Friedrich Himmel.
In the Romantic Era
The Ave Maria’s popularity picked up once again in the Romantic era during the 19th century. As mentioned before, the Gounod setting to Bach’s accompaniment was written during this time, as was Franz Schubert’s setting.
Schubert’s composition for solo soprano is probably the most well-known setting of the Ave Maria; yet what is not as well-known is its context. Schubert wrote his Ave Maria as part of a song cycle based on Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. The main character, Ellen Douglas, prays this prayer in her own hour of need. For this reason, it is somewhat debated among church musicians as to the appropriateness of using Schubert’s Ave Maria in a liturgical setting, as it was not created to be sacred music, per se. Nevertheless, only one listen makes it clear why Schubert’s setting has remained so beloved by so many. It is undoubtedly a beautiful masterpiece.
Other notable settings:
Johannes Brahms’s setting of Ave Maria for SSAA choir is a lovely gem, featuring a lilting melody and lush harmonies.
Edward Elgar wrote a choral setting for SATB as the second of his Three Motets.
In his later life, Franz Liszt set the Ave Maria for SSTB choir in a way that echoes older sacred music compositional techniques while incorporating a romantic flavor.
20th & Contemporary Settings
Ave Maria continued to be an inspiration to many composers into the 20th century. Igor Stravinsky wrote a short setting for choir that fascinatingly retains a sense of his musical style while still maintaining a level of reverence and appropriateness for liturgical use. Francis Poulenc, too, contributed a setting for choir that is altogether stunning and ethereal.
In the mid-20th century, Franz Biebl published his setting of the Ave Maria, which today is one of the best known choral settings. A local fireman asked Biebl to compose something for an annual fireman’s choral competition, the result of which was this setting. For years the piece lay virtually unnoticed, until Chanticleer made a recording that popularized it. One unusual aspect of this setting is that it is for double choir!
Composers today still find the Ave Maria to be a source of inspiration. A few of my personal favorites:
Rihards Dubra’s Ave Maria 1, which uses key signatures and other compositional techniques to provide text painting
Kevin Memley’s joyful setting for SATB choir, which I had the good fortune of singing many years ago and to this day count as one of my very favorite choral pieces.
Michael Perza’s setting for choir is both beautiful and accessible for church choirs.
In gazing over the past several centuries of music history and seeing how the Ave Maria caught the hearts of so many composers, I can’t help but think of what Pope St. John Paul II wrote at the end of his Letter to Artists:
May the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always: she is the “tota pulchra” portrayed by countless artists, whom Dante contemplates among the splendours of Paradise as “beauty that was joy in the eyes of all the other saints”.
