Ave Maria

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer working in the early Romantic era. His ever-popular Ave Maria was composed in 1825 as No.6 of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from SirWalterScott’s epic poem The Lady Of The Lake. The text came from a part of the poem called Ellen’s Song

The melody has been re-used many times, and is often set to the Catholic Prayer that starts with thesamephrase (“Hail Mary” in English). Most memorably, it was adapted by Walt Disney for his 1940 film Fantasia. The version here is for two Medium Voices, with an accompanying Piano part.