Ave Maria (Hear our prayer)

Ave Maria 1903

Music by: Herbert Johnson
Lyrics by: from the Catholic Liturgy
Cover artist: unsigned 

... A popular text, the Ave Maria has been set to music in a number of ways by many of the world's greatest composers. We featured a version by Gounod in our Classics in the Parlor feature in December of 2001. Many songs by this title have been written, using differing texts but all are intended for one purpose; to sing the praises of the Mother of Christianity. This setting uses the majority of full Latin text of the "Hail Mary" and we've included the full Latin and English texts of the prayer in our lyrics box (see the link below) for you to compare to Johnson's setting. He managed to capture the majority of the text.

Johnson's setting for the song is perhaps one of the most familiar to many people and is a beautiful flowing piece that expresses the peace and passion of and for Mary. Using a continuing flow of triplet based arpeggios in the left hand and a beautiful melody in the right hand with simple harmonies, Johnson created one of the masterpieces of modern sacred music when he wrote this work. A middle section that brings feeling of mystery and awe beaks the flow and provides a prelude to a triumphant return to the original theme. On hearing it, one cannot deny the feeling of power and strength of faith that can be communicated through music.

Herbert Johnson (1857 - 1904) Ave Maria may have been one of the last songs written by Johnson for he died the year after its publication. We know that he wrote many other hymns and sacred songs, many of which are stunning such as Ave Maria and Face To Face (also in this feature) yet very little seems to have been retained about his entire output and life. There also appears to be some evidence of a few secular songs by Johnson although a catalog of his output seems to be lacking.