We do well to remember as Advent season progresses, that Jesus was born. *heh* He had a mother. Here is her response to her cousin Elizabeth when Elizabeth discerned the nature of her pregnancy, as found in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel:
46…“ My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.â€Â
And here is a very human response recognizing the importance of The Son’s very human mother:
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 tuae, Jesus.
Ave Maria…
There are several versions of Ave Maria which are angelic and touch the soul. Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Perry Como and Barbara Streisand come to mind and I’m sure there are many more.
TF,
The soloists you mention probably all render credible performances of an Ave Maria (I know I’ve heard the Groban Bach/Gounod Ave and it’s pretty good), but My current fv collection pf solo (or nearly solo *heh*) renditions is found on Placido Domingo’s Deutsch Grammophone album, Sacred Songs, and includes various Aves, including the popular Bach/Gounod as well as one by Mascagni and another by Placido Domingo Jr. (!).
Naturally, Placido’s Bach/Gounod outshines Groban’s by a bit, and I can’t imagine Celine Dion, Perry Como or Barbara Streisand even approaching as near as Groban to Placido’s performance (assuming they performed the very popular Bach/Gounod–which is the most likely possibility).
In fact, I have a vague echo of Perry Como’s voice/stylings associated with the piece…
BTW, the reason that particular piece is credited “Bach/Gounod” even though the text was written by neither and they never met (different centuries, you know :-)) is that Gounod took Bach’s Prelude #1 in C from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier and very, very consciously built his melody above it.
Just a lil boring “inside music” talk. *heh*
Hi there…I Googled for lyrics to ave maria, but found your page about Magnificat/Ave Maria…and have to say thanks. nice read. Maria Kanellis