Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)
Gounod's melody over Bach's prelude became a wedding and funeral staple.
Bach'. The piece consists of a melody by the French Romantic composer Charles Gounod superimposed over a slightly changed version of Bach's Prelude No.
- Composer
- Charles Gounod
- Genre
- Sacred song / meditation
- Notable feature
- Includes the 'Schwencke measure' (m.23)
Lore & Background
The same year it appeared with the words of Alphonse de Lamartine's poem 'Le livre de la vie'. The version of Bach's prelude used by Gounod includes the 'Schwencke measure' (m.23), a measure allegedly added by Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke in an attempt to correct what he or someone else erroneously deemed a 'faulty' progression, even though this sort of progression was standard in Bach's music.
Reader's Guide
Alongside Schubert's 'Ave Maria', the Bach/Gounod 'Ave Maria' has become a fixture at funerals, weddings, and quinceañeras. There are many different instrumental arrangements including for violin and guitar, string quartet, piano solo, cello, and trombone. Opera singers such as Nellie Melba, Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as choirs, have recorded it hundreds of times during the twentieth century. Later in his career, Gounod composed an unrelated setting of Ave Maria for a four-part SATB choir.
Did You Know?
- Alessandro Moreschi, one of the last castrato singers, performed 'Ave Maria' on recordings in the early 1900s.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)?
It is a sacred vocal meditation in which French Romantic composer Charles Gounod layered his own lyrical melody atop a lightly adapted version of J.S. Bach's Prelude in C major from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. The result reads as a single, unified devotional piece even though it draws on two distinct compositional voices separated by roughly a century.
What role does Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) play in performance?
The piece has become a staple of both wedding and funeral services around the world, prized for its serene, hymn-like quality. Its accessible melodic line makes it a go-to choice for solo vocalists and choirs seeking a contemplative sacred moment.
What is the 'Schwencke measure' in Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)?
Measure 23 contains a brief harmonic passage known as the Schwencke measure, a short chromatic inflection that momentarily colors the otherwise diatonic texture. It is one of the most discussed micro-details among theory students analyzing the piece.
Why is Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) important in music theory and composition?
It serves as a textbook example of how a Romantic-era melody can be grafted onto a Baroque keyboard prelude without disrupting the harmonic logic of either layer. Students and composers study it to understand voice-leading, modal mixture, and the interplay between counterpoint and homophony.
How does Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) resolve at its close?
The piece ends by returning to the tonic C-major triad, with Gounod's melody settling on the fundamental pitch while the adapted Bach accompaniment fades into a quiet, sustained chord. The ending mirrors the opening, giving the meditation a sense of circular, prayerful closure.
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