Sir Henry Raeburn - Portrait of Sir Walter Scott

"" ("", D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6, 1825), in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

in 1825 as part of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's 1810 popular narrative poem '' The Lady of the Lake'', loosely translated into German. It is one of Schubert's most popular works. Beyond the song as originally composed by Schubert, it is often performed and recorded by many singers under the title "Ave Maria" (the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name of the prayer

Hail Mary The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the ...

, and also the opening words and refrain of Ellen's song, a song which is itself a prayer to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

), in musically simplified arrangements and with various lyrics that commonly differ from the original context of the poem. It was arranged in three versions for piano by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

''The Lady of the Lake'' and the "Ave Maria"

The piece was composed as a setting of a song (verse XXIX from

Canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from th ...

Three) from

's popular narrative poem '' The Lady of the Lake'', in a German translation by (1780–1822), and thus forms part of Schubert's . In Scott's poem, the character Ellen Douglas, the Lady of the Lake (

Loch Katrine Loch Katrine (; or ) is a freshwater loch in the Trossachs area of the Scottish Highlands, east of Loch Lomond within the Stirling (council area), Stirling council area. It mostly lies within the Shires of Scotland, historic and registration c ...

in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

), has gone with her exiled father to stay in the Goblin's cave as he has declined to join their previous host, Roderick Dhu, in rebellion against King James. Roderick Dhu, the chieftain of

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

Alpine, sets off up the mountain with his warriors, but lingers and hears the distant sound of the harpist Allan-bane, accompanying Ellen who sings a

prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

addressed to

the Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loret ...

, calling upon her for help. Roderick Dhu pauses, then goes on to battle. Schubert's setting is said to have first been performed at the castle of Countess Sophie Weissenwolff in the little Austrian town of Steyregg and dedicated to her, which led to her becoming known as "the lady of the lake" herself. The opening words and refrain of Ellen's song, namely "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

" (Latin for "Hail Mary"), may have led to the idea of adapting Schubert's melody as a setting for the full text of the traditional

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prayer, "

". The Latin version of the "Ave Maria" is now so frequently used with Schubert's melody that it has led to the impression that he originally wrote the melody as a setting for the "Ave Maria" prayer.

Position within the cycle

In 1825, Schubert composed a selection of seven songs from Scott's ''The Lady of the Lake''. They were published in 1826 as his Opus 52. The songs are not intended for a single performer: the three songs of Ellen are for a woman's voice with piano accompaniment, while the songs for Norman and Malcolm Graeme were intended for the baritone

Johann Michael Vogl Johann Michael Vogl (August 10, 1768 – November 19, Michael Lorenz: ''Studien zum Schubertkreis'', Phil. Diss. Vienna, 2001 1840), was an Austrian baritone singer and composer. Though famous in his day, he is remembered mainly for his close ...

. Of the remaining two songs, one was for a male ensemble and the other for a female ensemble. # "Ellens Gesang I", D. 837, ''Raste Krieger, Krieg ist aus'' / "Soldier rest! the warfare o'er" # "Ellens Gesang II", D. 838, ''Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd'' / "Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done" # "Bootgesang" ( Hail to the Chief), D. 835, ''Triumph, er naht'' / "who in triumph approaches", for male voice quartet # "Coronach" (Deathsong of the women and girls), D. 836, ''Er ist uns geschieden'' / "He is gone to the mountain", for female choir # "Normans Gesang", D. 846, ''Die Nacht bricht bald herein'' ("Night will soon be falling") # "Ellens Gesang III" (''Hymne an die Jungfrau'' / Hymn to the Virgin), D. 839, ''Ave Maria! Jungfrau mild'' / "Ave Maria! maiden mild!" # "Lied des gefangenen Jägers", D. 843, ''Mein Roß so müd'' / "My steed is tired" Schubert composed the songs to the German texts. However, with the exception of No. 5, the songs were clearly intended to be published with the original English texts as well. This meant finding correspondences to Storck's sometimes quite free translations, which entailed significant difficulties.

Lyrics

Use in ''Fantasia'' (1940)

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

used Schubert's song in the final part of his 1940 film '' Fantasia'', where he linked it to

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

's ''

Night on Bald Mountain ''Night on Bald Mountain'' (), also known as ''Night on the Bare Mountain'', is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian s:St. John's Eve (Gogol, unsourced), literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed ...

'' in one of his most famous

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

s. The end of Mussorgsky's work blends with almost no break into the beginning of Schubert's song, and as

Deems Taylor Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was e ...

remarked, the bells in ''Night on Bald Mountain'', originally meant to signal the coming of dawn, which cause the demon

Chernabog The following are fictional characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 1940 film ''Fantasia (1940 film), Fantasia'', its 1999 sequel ''Fantasia 2000'', and the 2014 video game ''Fantasia: Music Evolved''. Characters are sorted by th ...

to stop his dark worship and the ghosts to return to the grave, now seem to be church bells signalling the beginning of religious services. A procession of monks is shown walking along. The text for this version is sung in English, and was written by

Rachel Field Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and children's literature, children's fiction writer. She is best known for her work ''Hitty, Her First Hundred Years''. Field also won a National Book Awa ...

. This version also had three stanzas, like Schubert's original, but only the third stanza made it into the film (one line in the last stanza is partially repeated to show how it is sung in the film): The version heard in ''Fantasia'' was arranged by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...

especially for the film, and unlike the original, which is for a solo voice, is scored for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and mixed

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

, accompanied by the

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

of the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...

. The soloist is Julietta Novis.

References

External links

*
Sheet music
Cantorion.org
''The Lady of the Lake''
edition with notes by William J. Rolfe, Boston 1883, with the song on page 58, and notes on alternate words on page 177 , including "Hymn to the Virgin" {{Authority control Lieder composed by Franz Schubert 1825 compositions 19th-century songs Music based on works by Walter Scott Compositions in B-flat major