F. Schubert "Ave Maria"
The miniature masterpiece of the Austrian composer Franz Schubert has been loved by the public and performers all over the world for almost 2 centuries. The unusually touching melody finds a response in the soul of both a professional musician and an amateur who does not know the notes.
History of creation
In the summer of 1825, Franz Schubert set out with Johann Vogel, the retired opera singer, as an accompanist with concerts in Upper Austria. It was the desire of the musicians to make money in an affordable way - speaking. The province warmly greeted them, but financial expectations did not materialize, earnings barely enough to continue the journey, and sometimes I had to play music "at the table and overnight."
By that time, Schubert was 28 years old out of the 31 that were released to him. More recently, he was denied the position of court vice conductor. The music he composed was rarely published, there was almost no income, publishers paid very little. It was performed even less often. Franz passed that way among composers who during life almost did not see his audience.
And in June they arrived in the small mountain town of Gmunden on the shores of Lake Traun. Here they lingered for almost a month and a half in the hospitable house of the merchant Ferdinand Traveger. The picturesque surroundings of northern nature, the rocky shore of the lake, the mountain range surrounding it inspired many poets, composers and other creators who came here on purpose. All this made a huge impression on Schubert.
Here he wanted to write music with poetry of Walter Scott, incredibly popular in those days. Without hiding his intentions, Schubert openly stated that he hoped to gain fame through these poems far beyond the borders of Austria. Therefore, initially the text to the vocal cycle of 7 songs was supposed to take the original in English and Adam Storck's translation into German.
Walter Scott's poem "The Virgin of the Lake" was first published in 1810, and literally immediately gained immense popularity. It consisted of 13 songs, Schubert put on music only 7 of them. "The third song of Ellen" began with an appeal to the Virgin Mary: "Ave Maria", but further content reflects not a biblical story at all. This is a romantic song of a young maiden, a plea for help, a request to shelter from hardships, the "harsh sea of life", full of allegories and allegories. The same music is romantic, subtle, beautiful. The verse translation of this ballad into Russian by Alexey Plescheyev is widely known.
Thus, the author's version of the song meant the German text Blind. The original in English had a slightly different metric, and worse laid down on music. And the canonical Latin text used at Catholic divine services did not fit here, recalling the event of the appearance to the Virgin Mary Archangel Gabriel with good news (in Orthodoxy this is the prayer “Virgin to the Virgin, rejoice”).
However, the success of “Ave Maria” was crushing the public from the very beginning. Many fans of the melody imbued with a surprisingly pious mood from listening. All noted the extraordinary elevation and prayer of music. Whereas, Schubert did not mean anything like that - his childhood spent within the walls of a convict, a closed church nursing home for singers, disappointed him for a long time in the foundations of the church.
The vocal cycle was published already in 1826, and Schubert received a record fee of 200 guilders almost immediately. True, the hope of becoming famous in England did not come true. But very soon there was an opportunity to perform in Vienna at a big concert - in honor of the anniversary of the death of Beethoven (he died in 1827), Schubert wrote several works. In fact, it was the first public performance of his music for such a wide audience.
Small (his height was only 157 cm), the inexpressive Schubert was greeted by the audience at first with restraint, but gradually came to jubilation, by the end of the concert there were cries of "Born a new Beethoven!" It also brought serious money; Franz bought a grand piano for them. He was so pleased with this nascent popularity, he was accepted, he was loved, and further fame and success seemed to him.
But according to a bitter coincidence, a few months after the memorable concert, Franz Schubert fell seriously ill with typhus and died. A grand piano bought for a generous reward was sold. And the money went to the funeral and arrangement of a separate grave. The honor that not every composer of that period has won ...
Music Ave Maria
The genre of a ballad or song was a favorite for Schubert. He was a true master of expressing in a short form depth, lyricism, expression of feelings through musical expressive means. Often, when analyzing his musical works, they mention that they are subject even to a novice performer. They are comfortable tessiturno, and allow the performer to accompany yourself. This is probably due to one feature - Schubert was an assistant teacher, during his lifetime he spoke little, and wrote music exclusively for a narrow circle of friends. They were going to the so-called "Schubertiad", and the only desire united them - to play and listen to music. For such evenings, Franz composed his small but beautiful plays.
Music "Ave Maria" - chamber, lyrical, sublime. The introductory chords, reminiscent of the measured rocking of the boat, set up a calm, peaceful way. And the melody raises to other places, in dreams of something not earthly.
The couplet form repeats the musical material, telling the whole song completeness and conciseness. And at the same time, each verse is performed with a different power of feeling and sounds differently each time.
Ave Maria today
Interest in this music has not weakened since then. She reprinted many times, written a huge number of arrangements for instruments and voices. The melody performed by brass (trumpets or horn) acquires a hymn. Solo strings gives it more delicate shades. There is also an arrangement for piano, written by Georges Bizet for the collection "Pianist singer".
In vocal practice, the classic discourse by Robertino Loretti, a deep tenor mature performance by Luciano Pavarotti and other famous opera and chamber singers, is already considered a classic performance. There are also modern processing of this music in the recording of electronic instruments.
It can be heard in movies, commercials, even computer games. Here is a partial list:
- "Short Breath of Love" (Russia, 1992), where the treatment of melodies for an electric guitar performed by Viktor Zinchuk sounds;
- The Godfather 3 (USA, 1990);
- "Go and see" (USSR, 1985);
- "1 + 1" (Spain, 2014);
- "Classmates" (USA 2014);
- Russian television series "Kitchen" (CTC);
- m / f "Fantasy" Walt Disney (USA, 1940);
- Soviet cartoon of 1972 dedicated to the victims of the Vietnam War;
- animated film "Rango" (USA 2011);
- "Runaway Bride" (USA 1999).
This music enables the performer to show not only the technique, but also his lively emotional perception of the work, which, despite some simplicity, requires a good sense of proportion and musical taste. But listeners are always happy if the poster indicates that there will be an opportunity to listen to "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert.
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