Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)

The piece known as "Ave Maria" originated as a meditation on Bach's first piano prelude, published in 1853. French Romantic composer Charles Gounod wrote a melody and placed it over a nearly unaltered version of Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C major from the first book of *The Well-Tempered Clavier* (1722). The original 1853 publication featured the melody for solo violin, but the version that gained widespread popularity was the 1859 arrangement for voice, set to the Latin prayer "Ave Maria."

Gounod first improvised the melody, and his future father-in-law, Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman, transcribed it. Zimmerman then created an 1853 arrangement for violin (or cello) with piano and harmonium. That same year, the piece appeared with words from Alphonse de Lamartine's poem "Le livre de la vie." In 1859, publisher Jacques-Léopold Heugel released a version using the familiar Latin text. The version of Bach's prelude that Gounod used includes the so-called "Schwencke measure" (measure 23), a bar allegedly inserted by Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke to correct what he or someone else mistakenly thought was a faulty harmonic progression, even though such progressions were standard in Bach's music.

Alongside Schubert's "Ave Maria," this piece has become a staple at funerals, weddings, and quinceañeras. Numerous instrumental arrangements exist, including for violin and guitar, string quartet, solo piano, cello, and trombone. Opera singers such as Nellie Melba, Franco Corelli, and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as choirs, recorded it hundreds of times during the twentieth century. Later in his career, Gounod composed a separate, unrelated setting of Ave Maria for four-part SATB choir.

The composition is based on Bach's prelude, a study in broken chords. Gounod used the first four measures as a prelude, repeating them for the voice's first entry. He employed Bach's version with the inserted Schwencke measure after the original 22, where the voice sings an expressive, repeated "Maria!" He added tempo, pedal, and dynamic markings.

Notable recordings include one by Alessandro Moreschi, one of the last castrato singers, made for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company in the early 1900s. Richard Clayderman recorded the piece on his 1980 album *Les Musiques de l'amour*, and also included an upbeat version in a medley on his album *Medley Concerto*. Noa (Achinoam Nini) performed her own lyrics for the piece for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1994. In 2003, synthpop duo Erasure released a cover as a B-side to their single "Solsbury Hill." A rendition by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin from their album *Hush* served as the main theme for the 2017 Palme d'Or-winning Swedish film *The Square*. The piece also appears as a recurring theme in Disney's *A Christmas Carol* (2009).