Ave Maria • (Bach/Gounod)
Digital Song Download • Bach-Gounod • A Quiet Moment
[AQM-01]

As a composition, this piece is unique for it is a composition by two different composers living at very different times. Contrary to your perceptions, it has always been common for composers and musicians to play and compose on other’s music and themes, producing something different or outstanding. It was a part of the creativity of music and I have used this technique myself, especially for duet work. See my CD, Duettos Catanbiles.

In 1853 the French composer Charles Gounod (1818-1893) wrote a piece for violin and/or various other instruments, entitled Méditation sur le 1er Prélude de piano de S. Bach. He later transcribed it for voices, and later still, in 1859, added the words of the Ave Maria.

So the melody was composed by Gounod; the accompaniment, however, consists of the first prelude of J.S. Bach’s Das Wohltemperirte Clavier (The Well-tempered Clavier), written in 1722. Gounod did add one bar.

Darren Curtis Skanson