Ave Maria

Christmas is about so many, many things. There’s Santa Claus, Sol Invictus, the winter solstice, Frosty the Snowman, Buddy the Elf, Kevin—the Home Alone kid, Ralphie—the A Christmas Story kid, Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim, George Bailey, The Griswald family Christmas, The Nutcracker, The Messiah, the baby Jesus, the angels, the shepherds, Joseph, and Mary.

With all of that in mind, I’d like to dedicate some time to Mary, Mother of God, is there a more epic title than that? Maybe savior of the world, I guess. Mary certainly isn’t ignored and she doesn’t play second fiddle to any of the Christmas cast of characters but outside of Catholicism, she doesn’t immediately come to mind around Christmas. Yet, the gospel accounts of the nativity are predominately about Mary. Joseph tags along.

What about the musical side of Christmas? While Frosty has his own song as does Santa and, of course, Jesus, does anyone have a better song than Mary? They do not.

“Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert was originally based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott. After the song became a massive success the word from the Latin prayer were grafted to the Schubert’s tune.

After Schubert, the most famous version of “Ave Maria” is the Bach/Gounod collaboration. In Gounod’s effort, he chose the prayer text from the outset as he composed a descant melody over J.S. Bach’s “Prelude No. 1” from The Well Tempered Clavier.

After those two, the popular well runs dry but there are still several imposing settings of the blessed virgin’s text. Some of them are by well-known composers such as Edward Elgar.

Elgar’s version was written for the death of a family friend when Elgar was about 29 years old. While Elgar was a Catholic, this version feels so very, very English.

Another famous composer with a little-known “Ave Maria” is Anton Bruckner. Bruckner’s version has all the hallmarks of his symphonic output. The text is spun out in thick chunks of supple harmonies. The only version of merit is conducted by Eugen Jochum. 

Johannes Brahms is the only not a Catholic composer on this impromptu list. His “Ave Maria” was written for women’s chorus in 1858. It was his first verified composition for chorus and orchestra. As with Bruckner, there is no mistaking the style here. Brahms’s lyricism and impeccable structure are clearly in place.

From the very beginning, Christmas has been about mother and child. All of us are the children of our mothers. Hopefully, we can hear the veneration of motherhood in these compositions and recognize something of the spirit that brought us into this life we share.