As most listeners are aware, there are many well-known versions of the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) by famous composers, including those by Schubert and Gounod. But there are probably as many, perhaps even more, renditions by anonymous composers, the earliest ones dating perhaps to the seventh or eighth centuries. Most of the early surviving versions were written in Gregorian chant-style, that is, featuring modal writing, scoring for a single vocal line, and with no rhythm or instrumental accompaniment. The more commonly sung and recorded chant versions date to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. One feature common among many of them is the melismatic style of the singing, one syllable often stretched over a winding, typically soaring path of notes. This is noticeable in renditions of the Ave Maria, Offertory, for example. But, of course, there are versions featuring an equal mixture of syllabic and melismatic singing, or where the syllabic style is dominant. The character of most of these tends to sound livelier than the more melismatic-oriented renditions. There are many anonymous late-Medieval and Renaissance-era Ave Marias, most displaying more lyrical features than chant versions, with the later ones using harmony, rhythm, and even contrapuntal elements. There is a popular fifteenth century English version of the Ave Maria (available on recordings from Sony and Naxos, among others), perhaps the earliest surviving non-Latin rendition. It has a more lyrical, comparatively Romantic character, alongside the chant versions, not least because of its more colorful polyphonic character.

© Robert Cummings, Rovi