Ave Maria - Bach/Gounod/Schubert?

Question

I still don't understand the difference between the two famous Ave Maria's.

Sometimes it seems they are BOTH build on top of Bach's composition ? Or is it just the Gounod version ?

What is the precise history? Did Bach's composition already exist before Gounod started with the melody , or did they work together ?

Sorry... don't know a lot about the era, but am in love with some interpretations of both versions.

Answer 1

The Schubert Ave Maria has nothing to do with Bach. Any similarities are purely coincidental. In fact, the Schubert Ave Maria is a fabrication. The song was originally a setting of a German translation of Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake. That setting happens to begin with the words 'Ave Maria'. Later the Walter Scott words were replaced with the complete Ave Maria' text.



No, Bach and Gounod could never have worked together. Bach died in 1750 and Gounod wasn't even born until 1818. It is simply an example of one composer paying hommage to another when Gounod used the First Prelude from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier as the basis for his setting of the Ave Maria hymn.

Answer 2

Gounod's Ave Maria was an assignment when he was a student at the Paris Conservatory. The composition teacher told all the students to write a melody over that same prelude.



I wish we still had the melodies written by the other students, because it would be interesting to compare them.

Answer 3

The images are interesting (Russian hat made from bleached beaver, watercolor on the mirror). The conflict between obligations as a wife to a soldier and her dreams of making music are interesting. Perhaps this great material might lend itself better to a short story. You may want to read something like Shiloh, by Bobbie Ann Mason. See how she dealt with the topic of the young wife wanting to fly and her married life holding her back. I think it has a different ending - you'll have to read it to see if you agree... This story, Shiloh, is in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, 7th edition.