Ave Maria (Stravinsky)

Ave Maria

by Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky at the time of the composition

Native name| Bogoroditse D'vo
Composed| 18 May 1934 (1934-05-18):  Paris
Published| Boosey & Hawles
Duration| 1 minute
Scoring| SATB chorus

Ave Maria (originally published using the Slavonic title Bogoroditse D'vo) is a short motet for SATB chorus by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

## Composition

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Stravinsky, though in his later years came to be a practicing member of the Russian Orthodox Church, showed little interest in his own religious and spiritual research in his early adult years and only returned to the fold in 1926, after sixteen years outside the Communion, when he started attending religious services held by Russian emigrants living in Paris. It was at this time that Stravinsky started composing short pieces for unaccompanied chorus based on Orthodox texts. Ave Maria was the last of the three pieces to have survived during this period, the other two being Otche Nash (1926) and Credo (1932).[1] The original manuscript by Stravinsky was then kept by fellow musician Nadia Boulanger, who later claimed Ave Maria was one of her favorite pieces to conduct, possibly because of its accessibility. She kept, at least, two versions: the actual, handwritten autograph, and two pages of a photostat of the autograph, paid for by Stravinsky himself. The latter is now kept in Lyon.[2]

Ave Maria was finished in Paris, France, on 4 April 1934, and is known to have been played for the first time on 18 May 1934 at the Salle Gaveau, in Paris, as part of a memorial concert to American composer Blair Fairchild.[3][4] It was originally written using texts in Slavic. In March 1949, however, since Stravinsky was struggling to earn money after moving into the United States, he decided to revise these three pieces and published them as a set, which later came to be known in recordings as Three Russian Sacred Choruses. As many other US compositions, it was published by Boosey & Hawkes.[5] This time, he used Latin texts on all three pieces. These three pieces, together with his Mass, are the only liturgical pieces Stravinsky wrote.[6]

## Structure

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Ave Maria consists of a total of 36 bars and usually takes around a minute to perform. Given the fact that the church restricted all kinds of instruments in liturgical pieces, the piece is scored for a SATB chorus and is designed in a way that it doesn't require the choir to have reached high musical attainments.[7] It is a homophonical piece and it is based on the Phrygian mode, with very little variations and almost no harmonic risks.[8] The differences between the piece with Slavonic text and the one with Latin text are not many; however, the Latin version of the piece tends to be longer, since it was rearranged to adapt better to the natural cadence of the text in Latin. At the end of the piece, the choir also sings "Amen", which was not present in the Slavonic version.[9]

## Recordings

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Since this is one of the lesser known works written by Stravinsky, it is not performed very often. However, some notable vocal ensembles have recorded the piece, usually in compilations of works by Stravinsky. Some of the most notable recordings of this piece are included in the list below:

* The Gregg Smith Singers recorded the piece in 1992 at SUNY, Purchase, New York. This recording was released as part of a Robert Craft collection by Naxos Records in November 2006.[10]

## References

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1. ^ "Stravinsky Ave Maria – Program Notes". www.emmanuelmusic.org. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
2. ^ Francis, Kimberly A. (2015). Teaching Stravinsky: Nadia Boulanger and the Consecration of a Modernist Icon. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190463663. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
3. ^ Stravinsky, Vera; Craft, Robert (1978). Stravinsky: In Pictures and Documents. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780671243821.
4. ^ White, Eric Walter (1947). Stravinsky, a critical survey. J. Lehmann.
5. ^ White, Eric Walter (1979). Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works. University of California Press. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
6. ^ "Igor Stravinsky: Ave Maria" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
7. ^ Walsh, Stephen (1967). "Stravinsky's Choral Music". Tempo (81): 41–51\. doi:10.1017/S0040298200034550. JSTOR 943887. S2CID 144694249.41-51&rft.date=1967&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144694249#id-name=S2CID&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/943887#id-name=JSTOR&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017/S0040298200034550&rft.aulast=Walsh&rft.aufirst=Stephen&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Ave+Maria+(Stravinsky)" class="Z3988">
8. ^ Craft, Robert. Stravinsky, I.: Mass / Cantata / Symphony of Psalms (Craft) (Stravinsky, Vol. 6). Archived from the original on 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
9. ^ Leonard, James. Ave Maria, for chorus a cappella... at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
10. ^ "Stravinsky, I.: Mass / Cantata / Symphony of Psalms (Craft) (Stravinsky, Vol. 6) – 8.557504". www.naxos.com. Retrieved 2 February 2019.

## External links

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* Score with text in Latin

* v
* t
* e

Igor Stravinsky

List of compositions
Discography

Operas and
musical dramas|

* The Nightingale
* Renard
* The Soldier's Tale
* Mavra
* Oedipus rex
* Perséphone
* The Rake's Progress
* The Flood

Ballets|

* The Firebird
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* Orpheus
* Agon

Symphonies|

* Symphony in E♭
* Symphony of Psalms
* Symphony in C
* Symphony in Three Movements

Orchestral music|

* Scherzo fantastique
* Fireworks
* Funeral Song
* Four Études
* The Song of the Nightingale
* Circus Polka
* Ode
* Scherzo à la russe
* Greeting Prelude
* Variations: Aldous Huxley in memoriam
* Canon on a Russian Popular Tune

Concertos|

* Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
* Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
* Violin Concerto in D
* Concerto in E♭ ("Dumbarton Oaks")
* Ebony Concerto
* Movements for Piano and Orchestra
* Concerto in D

Solo
vocal|

* Pastorale
* Pribaoutki
* Berceuses du chat
* Abraham and Isaac
* Elegy for J.F.K.
* "The Owl and the Pussy Cat"

Choral|

* Zvezdoliki
* Ave Maria
* Babel
* Mass
* Cantata
* Canticum Sacrum
* Threni
* A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer
* Requiem Canticles

Piano and
pianola|

* "Tarantella"
* Scherzo
* Piano Sonata in F♯ minor
* Four Études
* "Valse des fleurs"
* Three Easy Pieces
* Five Easy Pieces
* Étude for Pianola
* Piano-Rag-Music
* Les cinq doigts
* Three Movements from Petrushka
* Piano Sonata
* Serenade in A
* Concerto for Two Pianos
* Tango
* Sonata for Two Pianos
* Two Sketches for a Sonata

Chamber
music|

* Three Pieces for String Quartet
* Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet
* Lied ohne Name
* Octet
* Duo Concertant
* Elegy
* Septet
* Epitaphium
* Double Canon (in Memoriam Raoul Dufy)

Other|

* Symphonies of Wind Instruments
* Fanfare for a New Theatre

Arrangements|

* Bluebird Pas de Deux (from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty)
* Monumentum pro Gesualdo

Family|

| Parents|

* Fyodor Stravinsky (father)

|

Wives|

* Yekaterina Nosenko (first)
* Vera Sudeikina (second)

Children|

* Soulima Stravinsky
* Théodore Strawinsky

Amanuensis|

* Robert Craft

Named for Stravinsky|

* 4382 Stravinsky
* Igor Stravinsky (river cruise ship)
* Stravinsky (crater)
* Stravinsky Fountain
* Stravinsky Inlet

Related|

* Earnest Andersson
* Ernest Ansermet
* George Balanchine
* Ballets Russes
* Nadia Boulanger
* Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (film)
* Jean Cocteau
* Sergei Diaghilev
* Samuel Dushkin
* Arthur Lourié
* Monday Evening Concerts
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* Pierre Monteux
* Neoclassicism
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* Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
* Werner Reinhart
* Serialism

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