Sarah Brightman -- Ave Maria

Sarah Brightman - Ave Maria

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tui, Jesus
Ave Maria, gratia plena

Music: Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
Lyrics: [see below]

From: Classics (2001).
And from: Classics - European release (2006)
and from: Symphony: Live in Vienna (2008)
and from: Amalfi: Sarah Brightman love songs (2010).

Source of the lyrics: many thanks to Wilson.

Note that this version is different from the "Ave Maria" on the A Winter Symphony album, which is based on music by Bach and the Latin prayer, the Gounod version.
An alternative version is the "Ave Maria" duet with Fernando Lima on A Winter Symphony

This page contains:: > Background of the lyrics; > Translation of the lyrics; > Background of the music; > Other versions

Background of the lyrics

The lyrics in the song as Sarah sings them are an adaptation of the Latin prayer Ave Maria ("Hail Maria") from the Christian liturgy. Sarah sings only the first half, the Scriptural part is based on the Gospel of St. Luke (Lk 1:28,42), and goes back to the 4th or 5th century, so I read at the Ave Maria page by Michael Martin. The second part ("Sacta Maria, ...") was added probably in the 14th or 15th century. See also the Catholic Encyclopedia about Hail Mary for background information.

The full Latin prayer when spoken, as well as the Dutch version of the prayer, read as follows [with thanks to my father]:

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Tui, Jesus
Sancta Maria
Mater Dei
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae
Amen.

Wees gegroet Maria
Vol van genade
De Heer is met U
Gij zijt de gezegende onder de vrouwen
En gezegend is Jezus
De vrucht van uw schoot
Heilige Maria
Moeder van God
Bidt voor ons zondaars
Nu en in het uur van onze dood
Amen.

The line in the middle has "tui" = "thy" (see below) as does the penultimate line of Sarah's lyrics above. At first I had here "tuae", but Chuck Mullen explained to me in the clause "et benedictus fructus ventris" both "fructus" and "venter" (the genetive form of "ventris", meaning belly, womb) are masculine words, and thus should get the masculine form of "thy", being "tui" (the feminine form is "tuae"). Hence my change to "tui" in the lyrics.

If I translate the above lines into English, this is what I come up with:

Hail Maria
Full of grace
The Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
And blessed is Jesus
The fruit of thy womb
Holy Maria
Mother of God
Pray for us sinners
Now and in the hour of our death
Amen.

I have translated "gratia" as here "grace", in the meaning of "mercy" because "grace" sounds more solemn and resembles the Latin word more (elsewhere the song Pie Jesu is translated as "Merciful Jesus"). Also I have used words like "thee", "art thou" and "thy" because of the solemnity of the text.

After I had made this translation, Wilson pointed me to the The Mary Page, a page with the Hail Mary in various (over 100!) languages, and to Ave Maria page by Michael Martin, and the translation I made appears to be the correct one.
Except that I use "Maria" as name, rather than the more common English "Mary", which sounds too common to me for this text. Besides, in most other languages it is "Maria" in some form, and that name is used in English. (Perhaps there is a difference here in British English and American English usage?)

Translation of the lyrics

The above notes lead me to the following translation of what Sarah sings:

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedictatu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tui, Jesus
Ave Maria, gratia plena

Hail Maria
Full of grace
Maria, full of grace
Maria, full of grace
Hail, Hail Lord
The Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
And blessed is
And blessed is the fruit of thy your womb
Of thy womb, Jesus
Hail Maria, full of grace

Note that Sarah sings "Jesus" in the penultimate line, whereas it is "Jesu" in the prayer as I learned it, and in the song Pie Jesu. To me "Jesu" thus seemed the correct word to use here.
Mathew Olson, however, argues that in Ave Maria the name is used as a noun, and therefore is presented in the normative case (meaning that is keeps the '-us' ending). In Pie Jesu, on the other hand, Jesus is referred to as if the singer is calling His name, which in Latin is the vocative case (used when you are calling someone's name, addressing someone). It is difficult in English, Mathew adds, because th only difference between the normative and vocative use of a noun is the intonation of the voice.
These remarks has made me write "Jesus" also in the Latin prayer above.

Background of the music

The words printed above and sung by Sarah are not the words Schubert used when writing this piece of music, this Lied (the word "song" is a bit too common for this kind of music). The following quote from the Franz Peter Schubert: Master of Song web page explains it:

[In 1825] Schubert created the lied least understood by the general public, but which today is the most popular of all his compositions, the so-called Ave Maria. Although this song is widely performed all over the world, the text most commonly used with Schubert's music is not the poem the composer originally set to music. The Latin "Ave Maria" prayer text is commonly forced to fit Schubert's notes, and it almost succeeds with a few awkward places here and there. However, the text of the "Hail Mary" prayer bears little resemblance to the original poem of this lied. It is unknown who first forced this setting, but it is a fact that the song with its "adapted" Latin words is now the version most commonly performed. What Schubert actually wrote, he called Ellens dritter Gesang (Ellen's third song). The words are from a German translation of a work by Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, and Schubert set six or seven songs from this work. In this particular scene Ellen Douglas, in hiding, prays to the Virgin Mary. Schubert's setting was a simple lied for voice with piano accompaniment.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote The Lady of the Lake in 1810 and Adam Storck translated the songs for Schubert in 1820. Schubert put it to music in the Spring of 1825 and it was first published in 1826 as Opus 52 No. 6 (D. 839). Who first forced the setting of the Latin prayer to Schubert's music and when this was done, is unknown.

The Franz Peter Schubert: Master of Song web page gives the original text from Scott and Storck's translation, and continues with this note:

The German text that Schubert set to music is not a perfect translation, but a fairly close one. The lied may have first been performed at the home of Sophie Weissenwolff, who made it clear that she would like the dedication, and she received it. Countess Weissenwolff subsequently became known as "the lady of the lake."

[With many thanks to Wilson for help and info.]

Other versions

As one might guess from the above background, there are numerous versions of the Ave Maria around, mostly with the Latin prayer as lyrics, some with the original lyrics from Scott/Storck used by Schubert.

There is for example the one in A-minor by Giulio Caccini (ca. 1545-1618), which is sung for example by Charlotte Church on her debut album Voice of an Angel; it consists of the words "Ave Maria" repeated over and over again (with some Ave's stretched: Ahahahahahahahave).
Charlotte sings another version on her Christmas CD Dream a Dream, with as only credit "Arranged by Julian Smith", from a traditional no doubt: the music is not from Schubert. The lyrics are almost those of the Latin prayer given above (but with "tuis" instead of "tui"), namely:

Ave Maria, gratia plena
Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus fructus ventris tuis Jesus
Sancta Maria, Sancta Maria, Maria
Ora pro nobis
Nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora, in hora mortis nostrae
Amen. Amen.

The CD "Ave Maria - Schubert - Lieder" in the Silver Line Classics series of Philips (no. 420 870-2; year 19??) contains 15 lieder from Schubert sung by the Dutch soprano Elly Ameling, accompanied on piano by Dalton Baldwin. The Ave Maria on that CD is the original, with the lyrics as given on the The Franz Peter Schubert: Master of Song web page.

I also have an Ave Maria credited to G. Garvarentz, H. Kretzmer, C. Aznavour and sung by Ann Phillips on a Christmas CD. That version is very, very different and in English, with wonderful lyrics! (Follow the link to see the lyrics.)

Other versions I have heard of, but do not have or know the lyrics of:

Stanford Fleet Street Singers 1992-1994, What You Want (17 tracks)
Track 15. Ave Maria, Arranged by F. Biebl (3'59")

Thanks to Bob, who adds:
The Ave Maria is performed by the official (all male) glee club at Stanford University. The track alternates twice between soloist and chorus, beginnning with a solo, and is sung a capella. It is slow, extremely moving, and always sends a frisson through me.
The lyrics of the song are the Latin prayer.
...

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