The Artist:
Charles Francois Gounod (June 17, 1818 - October 18, 1893) was a French composer, best known for his opera Faust.
Info:
Charles Gounod's famous 'Ave Maria' is a curiosity in music history. The piece consists of a melody by Charles Gounod especially designed to be superimposed over the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from Book I of J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, written some 137 years earlier. This piece is one of the most popular wedding songs performed by piano and violin, cello, horn or voice. It is very atmospheric when played in a church with an organ.
Lyrics
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus, tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, sancta Maria,
Maria, ora pro nobis nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora, in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen! Amen!
