"Ave Maria" is an

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

composed by Vladimir Vavilov around 1970 and often misattributed to Italian composer

Giulio Caccini Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre o ...

. Vavilov published and recorded it himself in 1970 on the Melodiya label with the ascription "

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

". It is believed that organist Mark Shakhin, one of the performers on the original LP, first ascribed the work to Caccini after Vavilov's death, and gave the "newly-discovered" scores to other musicians. The organist then made an

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

of the aria for a recording by Irina Arkhipova in 1987, after which the piece came to be famous worldwide.

Selected recordings

* 1970 – Vladimir Vavilov and , Melodiya * 1987 – Irina Arkhipova, arranged by * 1994 – Inese Galante, arranged for organ, on the live album ''Musica Sacra'', Campion * 1995 – Inese Galante, arranged by Georgs Brīnums, on the album ''Debut'', Campion * 1997 –

Lesley Garrett Lesley Garrett, CBE (born 10 April 1955) is an English soprano singer, musician, broadcaster and media personality who is noted for being at home in opera and "crossover music". Early life Garrett was born in the town of Thorne, near Doncas ...

, arranged by Nick Ingman, on the album ''A Soprano Inspired'' * 1998 –

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

, arranged by Nick Ingman, on the album '' Voice of an Angel'' * 1998 –

Julian Lloyd Webber Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme. Early years and education Julia ...

, on the album ''

Cello Moods ''Cello Moods'' is an album recorded by the British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and, principally, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under James Judd in 1998 for Philips. It is a collection of classical pieces either originally written for or ad ...

'' * 1999 –

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor. He rose to fame in 1994 after winning the newcomers' section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing " Il mare calmo della sera". Since 1994, Bocelli has recorded 15 solo st ...

, on the album '' Sacred Arias'' * 2001 –

Sumi Jo Sumi Jo, OSI (; ; born 22 November 1962) is a South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her Grammy Award-winning interpretations of the bel canto repertoire. Life and career Early life and education Jo was born Jo Su-gyeong in Ch ...

, arranged by Steven Mercurio, on the album ''Prayers'' * 2003 – Minako Honda, on the album ''Ave Maria'' * 2005 –

Hayley Westenra Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand classical crossover singer. Her first internationally released album, '' Pure'', reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide ...

, arranged by Steven Mercurio, on the album ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'' * 2008 – Kokia, on the album '' The Voice'' * 2008 – Libera, on the album ''New Dawn'' * 2011 –

Patricia Janečková Patricia Burda Janečková (18 June 1998 – 1 October 2023) was a Slovak coloratura soprano. At the age of 12, she was the winner of the Czech–Slovak television show ' in November 2010 and gained international recognition through the broad ...

, on the album ''Patricia Janečková'' * 2014 –

Jackie Evancho Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American singer who gained wide recognition at an early age, singing primarily crossover music#Classical crossover, classical crossover covers. Since 2009, she has issued nine albums, a pla ...

, on the album '' Awakening'' * 2014 – Elīna Garanča, on the album ''Meditation'' * 2015 –

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. Turunen studied lyrical ...

, on the album '' Ave Maria – En Plein Air'' * 2015 – Amira Willighagen, on the album ''Merry Christmas'' * 2021 – Marina Rebeka, on the album ''Credo''

Use on film

* ''

Donnie Darko ''Donnie Darko'' is a 2001 American Science fiction film, science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly (filmmaker), Richard Kelly in his List of directorial debuts, directorial debut, and produced by Flower ...

'' (2001) * ''

Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as ''Led Zeppelin IV''), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy ...

'' (2003) * '' Trollywood'' (2004) * '' Our Lady of the Assassins'' (2000, American release trailer)

References

Arias Compositions with a spurious or doubtful attribution 1970 compositions 1970 songs Musical hoaxes Compositions in F minor {{classical-composition-stub

Selected recordings

Use on film

See also

References