Mendelssohn - Ave maria (op. 23 no. 2)

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847):
AVE MARIA for 8-part chorus

00:11 : Ave Maria (Andante)
02:48 : Sancta Maria (Con moto)
04:50 : Ave Maria (Andante)

Mendelssohn composed this beautiful 8-part motet in 1830. In a letter of 30 november he wrote: "In the Ave Maria, which is a greeting to Mary, it is a tenor who constantly sings before the chorus, and all alone from beginning to end." The final version turned out differently: The tenor and the chorus alternate in the two outer sections, while the middle 'con moto' section, imploring the Virgin to pray for us sinners, is an expansive, densely textured eight-part polyphonic movement. Originally written a cappella, the Ave Maria was later endowed with an accompaniment for organ or instrumental ensemble (clarinets, bassoons, cellos and basses).

Ave Maria, gratia plena.
Dominus tecum,
Benedicta tu in mulieribus!
Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostri.

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee,
Blessed art thou among women!
Hail Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners
Now and in the hour of our death.

Hervé Lamy (tenor)
Ensemble Vocal de La Chapelle Royale
Collegium Vocale de Gand
Directed by Philippe Herreweghe

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Felix
• Mendelssohn
• Bartholdy
• Ave
• Maria
• Philippe
• Herreweghe
• Chapelle
• Royale
• Collegium
• Vocale
• Gent
• Gand
• score
• stigekalder

[mutewoman]

Is there a CD with this?? I tried to find it but to no avail...

[stigekalder]

@mutewoman

Yeah you can buy it at Amazon.co.uk. Harmonia Mundi / Herreweghe.

Best regards, Niels

[mutewoman]

@stigekalder Thank you, Niels, but there are lots of CDs conducted by Herreweghe released by Harmonia Mundi. Do you have the title or some of the other pieces it contains? Thank you so much, I'm completely obsessed with this Ave Maria.

All the best

Suzanne

[stigekalder]

@mutewoman

Hi Suzanne,

I would have sent you the link, but then I got error message when I tried to post the comment.

If you search in Amazon on Ave Maria Herreweghe, you will find it. Its from 1988.

It also contains 2 nice cantatas, one of them Wie die Hirsch screit.

But Ave Maria is certainly a marvellous piece.

You should also check out his cd with Mendelssohn a cappella motets.

Definitely one of my top 10 choir cds.

[aminseba]

No words to describe it...

[jrbarreto50]

Salve Maria! Mendelssohn foi muito feliz! Bravo!

[Sailorstayfree]

Hi this ave maria is including in a cd of harmonia mundi

But The Dc is dedicated to the Psalm 42 of Felix Mendelshon

and the choir is from the "chapelle royale" thabk you for this video.

[mutewoman]

@stigekalder you can't post links in the comments... no idea why. I found the CD on the Harmonia Mundi site, available only as download, but I'll certainly get it. And I'll certainly have a look with my ears at those a-capella-motets.

thanks again!

[915mridd]

Thanks for this. It was performed at my brother's memorial service at DePaul University several years ago and I listen to it often. This is a wonderful recording.

[Sailorstayfree]

chapelle royale!