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Ave Maria op. 145 (Saint-Saëns)

Camille Saint-Saëns

Score

Read it and listen to it right here. It can't be downloaded — to sing it with your choir, use it in Cantico.

History

Ave Maria op. 145 (Saint-Saëns)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), the French composer and organist, wrote this “Ave Maria” (op. 145) for choir. It is a work of his maturity, published during the composer's lifetime, which remains in choral repertoire for its expressive and well-balanced writing.

About the piece

The angel's greeting to Mary, in Latin, in several voices. The edition, 77 measures in 3/4, carries sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.

How to prepare it

It is an intermediate piece. The ranges are wide in the outer voices (sopranos C4–G5 (a twelfth), altos C4–C5 (an octave), tenors C3–F4 (an eleventh) and basses G2–D4 (a twelfth)), so stamina weighs on the long parts. Learn the Latin spoken, with the stress on the right syllable, and then aim for an expressive, sustained legato. In 3/4, avoid letting the phrases turn into a waltz: feel one long pulse per measure.

When to use it

Sung during Advent, at celebrations of the Virgin and as an offertory chant in Ordinary Time.