Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Prayer "Ave Maria" or "Hail Mary" in Song


The Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most revered religious figures of the Roman Catholics, she being the mother of Jesus Christ who, Christians believe, is the promised Messiah and the Son of God. The “Hail Mary” is a prayer dedicated to her. A song of the prayer with Latin wordings is one of the all-time favorite Christmas songs. Although the song is mostly heard during Christmas, it is also played in any other time of the year especially in September 8 which is celebrated by the Roman Catholics as the “Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”.

“Ave Maria” was originally composed and written by Franz Schubert in 1825. The original German lyrics were based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott called “Lady of the Lake”. The revised and updated version of the song in Latin has lyrics that are taken from the Roman Catholic prayer “Hail Mary”.

Celine Dione, Beyonce Knowless, Mario Lanza, Pavarotti, Karen Carpenters are some of the many artists who covered the song. My favorite is Karen Carpenter’s version which is included in her and her brother Richard’s album entitled “Christmas Portrait” which was released in 1978.

Below is the video of the song “Ave Maria” with lyrics in Latin that is sung by Karen Carpenter. (Credit to Homero Souto who uploaded the video in You Tube)


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