Schubert’s Ave Maria – the Real Story

It’s wedding season again, and time to dust off all the tried and true ceremony music, from the Pachelbel Canon in D to the Mendelssohn Wedding March. And surely at least once this season, there will be the beloved Schubert Ave Maria.

I have always considered this an interesting wedding selection. Without question the music is sublime, and it makes a lovely setting for the medieval Latin Prayer to the Virgin. But Schubert didn’t originally intend it to be.

Schubert’s inspiration was the epic poem of Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, written in 1810. The poem tells the fictional tale of 16th century Scottish clans at war with each other and in rebellion against the king. Schubert wrote a cycle of seven songs based on the story, using the German translation of the poem by Philip Adam Storck.

The heroine of the poem is Ellen Douglas who has fled with her exiled father to a mountain cave to escape the pursuit of a rebel chieftain. While in the cave, Ellen sings a song praying to the Virgin Mary for help, accompanied by the harper Allan-bane.

This is the original text of Sir Walter Scott:

Schubert’s setting of Ellen’s song used Storck’s German translation of this text. The entire song cycle was published in 1826 as “Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts Fräulein vom See” (Seven Songs from Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake). What we know as the “Ave Maria” is titled “Ellens dritter Gesang” (“Ellen’s Third Song”).

The text we more commonly hear, and what is sung at weddings, is the original Latin text, which in English is:

That’s just something to think about during those wedding ceremonies this season!

Note: I have just published a set of three arrangements of Schubert’s Ave Maria. There is a very simple lever harp arrangement in C Major, an intermediate lever or pedal version in G Major, and a slightly more difficult pedal harp version, also in G Major. I use this pedal harp version myself, and my students have had success with each of the others. You can find these arrangements available for purchase and download at ARSmusica.us. Enjoy!