Quote:
Originally Posted by Manabi
Since Ave Maria is Latin for "Hail Mary," and the name of a Catholic prayer, there's likely a lot more than two pieces written that have that name. In this case the piece is by Jean Mouton, a French composer of the Renaissance. Mouton is famous for his motets, this piece being an example of one.
And yeah, it's significantly different than Bach's version.  |
I knew that someone could clear things up for me. You explained things, and very succinctly at that. Thanks, Manabi.
Latin used to be taught in high schools a lot more than it is today, at least in the deep South. This was years ago, say 75 years ago and before. The reason that I think that is that I scrounge the thrift stores, used book sales, etc. for used books. In the in the late 1970's when I first started doing it, I ran into a lot of used (and already old, then) Latin textbooks that had the markings that they had been issued from various high schools.
I cannot help but think of a certain pass in (American) football when I hear or read the words "Hail, Mary." It's one in which a team is down by a touchdown or less, they have time for probably only one more play before the end of the game, and they're a long way from the opponent's goal line. The quarterback throws a long pass into the end zone where a bunch of players--his team's and the opposing team's--are all bunched up. The quarterback's hope is that one of his team's players will catch it. It's a last-ditch effort. Sometimes it works. To non-Catholics, and probably just the ones interested in sports, that is probably the first thing that they think of when they hear or read "Hail, Mary."
Back to the song . . . . As I mentioned in my post, I don't know if Bach wrote the lyrics, but, to me, it is even more beautiful with a masterful singer singing the lyrics--I've listened to the instrumental only version, also. I've had the song running through my head all day, since I went to my free Spotify account and listened to three or four different performers singing it. Incredibly beautiful song. Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to have one of the free classical music providers give us that one sometime this holiday season.