Ave Maria

The "Caccini" Ave Maria was actually written in the 1970's by Vladimir Vavilov, an early music scholar and performer in the Soviet Union. The piece is a lovely invention he recorded and which was, after Vavilov's death, falsely attributed to Caccini by a colleague. The original text only uses the words "Ave Maria", or "Hail, Mary". This edition adds more text from this traditional prayer (Luke 1: 28, 42) and an obbligato melody unique to this arrangement to enrich the musical texture. The solo part can be performed by a small section of singers. Both the solo and the piano accompaniment are of medium difficulty, while the chorus part is very easy to learn. A note on the state of copyright on this piece: Russia's office of copyright refuses to acknowledge the existence of most of Vavilov's works including this one, so the piece has entered the public domain. Vavilov died childless, in poverty, and was largely forgotten until recent scholarship discovered his connection to this and other works.