THE "AVE MARIA" of
GIULIO CACCINI -- PART OF THE D I MUSIC WEBSITE
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Caccini's "Ave Maria" - a brief
history of its emergence in the 1990s
(NB. Scroll down about three screens to find a link to a Real
Audio sample to listen to)
(Scroll down to end of article to see sheet music
available)
Giulio Caccini's "Ave Maria" was never 'lost' but it was unknown to most music lovers in the Twentieth Century. In the last decade of the 20th Century it achieved remarkable popularity, and versions were recorded in the 1990s by Lesley Garrett, Charlotte Church and, arranged for a Cello soloist, by Julian Lloyd-Webber . Andrea Bocelli and Sumi Jo have also recently recorded new arrangements. You are probably on this page because you are wondering about the history of the piece, or because you have recently heard it for the first time and want to know more. This page will answer a lot of your questions (& if you can help fill in the gaps, please email the webmaster - email link at the end of the page).
GIULIO CACCINI:
A scholarly publication could tell you more, but....GIULIO CACCINI was born around 1545 in Rome (or Tivoli?) and died in 1618 in Florence. He was a member of the Camerata - a group of nobles and musicians who met to discuss science, drama and music, and was particularly involved in the attempts to add music to ancient Greek drama, which led to Opera. Caccini himself is often credited with the invention of the recitative style of singing so essential to early music dramas. His "Euridice" was not the first opera performed - that credit usually goes to an opera of the same name by Peri, but it was probably the first to have been written.
Caccini's most famous work prior to this decade was the song "Amarilli mia bella" - it is still (at the time of writing) his most recorded work. This came from a collection of songs and madrigals called Le nuove musiche which also contained an essay on the composition and singing techniques for the new styles emerging.
THE "AVE MARIA" as most of us know it today may not be 100% authentic, but to the best of my knowledge the authorship of the original is undisputed, and printed versions have been available before, including one from Schott.
THE 1990s saw two hit versions of this beautiful melody suddenly emerge. One was massively successful in Japan, sung by a counter-tenor against a backing which (I think) included electronic instruments.
"Ave Maria" (1995 11/22 ) by Slava (Vyatcheslay
Kagan-Palay).
The CD was published by a Japanese company "Victor". CD
Ref No.VICP-5640.
This Japanese success, however, has little bearing on the rest of the story which follows.
INESSA GALANTE, CHARLOTTE CHURCH & BEYOND
A version of the Caccini "Ave Maria" is included on Charlotte Church's worldwide best-seller "Voice of an Angel" on SONY. It is the same arrangement (by Nick Ingman) as was used by the English diva Lesley Garrett on her BMG disc "A Soprano Inspired" and this is what Charlotte Church had heard when she chose to record the piece. Lesley Garrett, in turn, had been inspired to record the "Ave Maria" after hearing Inessa Galante's recording (of an arrangement by Georgs Brinums) on the Campion CD "Debut". The Campion CD had been released in 1995 and was at first a "sleeper" - until people began to hear the Caccni "Ave Maria", then it topped in-store charts in the USA and rose to become one of the most requested albums on the UK classical radio station Classic FM. "Debut" has subsequently achieved platinum disc status in Holland and is still selling well throughout the world.
To discover more about Inessa Galante elsewhere on this site: http://www.dimusic.co.uk/galante.html
Inessa Galante, virtually unknown outside what had been the Eastern Bloc before 1995, is now an international star with many albums (you will find them listed elsewhere on this site - see the links at the end of the page) and the Caccini "Ave Maria" is only one among many well-loved recordings she has made (including a version of the Letter Song from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky which one prominent critic said was "to die for"). Collectors of Galante CDs will find, on her Campion CD "Musica Sacra" with the Latvian Radio Choir, a version of the "Ave Maria" sung to solo organ accompaniment , live in Riga Cathedral, and dating from 1994. This is proof that Inessa Galante had already made this sacred aria very much "her own" before the historic recording of the Georgs Brinums arrangement on "Debut".
Listen to The famous Caccini / Brinums version of Ave Maria, sung by Inessa Galante (second half) from "Debut" Campion RRCD 1335 if you have a REAL AUDIO player installed.
In fact Inessa Galante had heard the piece while on tour and had had it transcribed from a live performance by a fellow musician so that she could sing it herself in concert. The Caccini "Ave Maria" as known to most of us today had been regularly performed (and even recorded, though I have no details) in Russia this century, and it is this version which, thanks to Inessa Galante's ear for ideal repertoire for herself, eventually reached millions through the CD sales and TV appearances of Charlotte Church, Bocelli and others, as well as the sales and broadcasts of Inessa Galante's own CDs.
SO NOW YOU KNOW!
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SHEET MUSIC HIRE AND PURCHASE (PRICE ON APPLICATION)
The arrangement made by Nick Ingman for Lesley Garrett / Charlotte Church are available FOR HIRE ONLY from:
Wilson Editions, Magnus House, 8 Ashfield Road, Cheadle, Cheshire, SK8 1BB, England.
Telephone: 0161 491 6655 Email: dimus@aol.com
HOWEVER The arrangements of Caccini's "Ave Maria" made by Georg Brinums for Inessa Galante is now available FOR HIRE AND FOR SALE as follows:
FOR HIRE Score with ready-bound parts of required quantity for any size of orchestra - fee on application.
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Also available FOR SALE from the same address are:-
An arangement for voice and piano in B flat Minor by Nick Ingman (if ordering on secure form quote ref: "AVE MARIA 1")
A very much simpler arrangement for voice and piano in A Minor by Nick Ingman (if ordering on secure form quote ref: "AVE MARIA 2")
These two arrangements for voice and piano are available for sale by mail order or to the retail trade (mail order price £8.00 post free within the UK OR £10.50 sterling, post free to anywhere else in the world )
An arrangement for SATB by Nick Ingman - price on application: i.e. depending on number of copies to suit intended choir. This item may be relatively expensive but we will discuss a restricted "licence to copy" option with non-profit making religious or educational establishments (NB. copying without licence would be a breach of copyright, and appropriate action will be taken if instances of this are discovered). Please enquire.
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