Any Protestants out there like the song "Ave Maria"?

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I listen to a recording of Luciano Pavarotti singing it every Christmas. I think it is beautiful. Even tried to memorize the words! LOL
 
I have heard somewhere that Luther prayed the rosary regularly. Does anyone have any verification information pro or con?
 
I have always loved the song as a kid. It is such a beautiful song. I use to as a kid sing it all the time when I would go to mass with my grandma. I like all kinds of christian music. Wether your catholic, lutheran, presbyterian, baptist, evangelical, or any other denomination, I love christian music that sprouted up from all these denominations.
 
🙂 i am Catholic, there are too many hymns i can’t get through without being moved to tears.this one i can barely sing a verse let alone the chorus.the other hard one is St. Francis’s prayer.
 
The secular choir that I was in, directed by a fervent non-denominational Christian, sang two versions of Ave Maria one season. We have also done several versions of the Sanctum, the Gloria, and Agnus Dei. All quite beautiful renditions, and many choir members enjoyed singing those the most.
 
I was asked to play the Bach-Gounod arrangement of the Ave Maria at a Church of Ireland (Anglican) funeral service a few weeks ago. It was played as a reflection, though I don’t know if it was requested for the prayer or simply because it is a beautiful piece of music (or both perhaps!). In any case the presiding minister requested that the congregation stand while it was being sung. I’m sure there are many Protestants who, at very least, like many settings of the prayer because of the musical quality of many settings of it, even if they are not terribly fond of reciting the prayer itself.
 
RCSoCal said:
I have heard somewhere that Luther prayed the rosary regularly. Does anyone have any verification information pro or con?
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Yes, as far as I know, Luther did continue to pray the rosary even after he broke from Rome. However, he used a shortened version of it: for the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer he would say “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” He did not pray the second half where he would have been asking Mary to pray for him. He encouraged others to pray the rosary as an effective form of meditation. You can see in some of Luther’s sermons that he saw her as a good model for Christian living: “No woman is like you. You are more than Eve or Sarah, blessed above all nobility, wisdom, and sanctity.” (Sermon, Feast of the Visitation, 1537)…“Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees . . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother.” (Sermon, Christmas, 1529).
 
I was at a funeral in a Baptist church about a month ago where the organist played it as a prelude. It was in the program so the family must have requested it. Also, the *Gloria Patri *appears in the the hymnal published by the Southern Baptists.
 
Sure:

Now you got me thinking on what arrangements are out there that I am familiar with.

Isn’t there one based on the C major prelude from Bach Well Tempered Clavier book 1 (a very well known Bach prelude).

I also seem to recall one based on a familiar Schubert Seranade.

But anyway, I’m a musical snob and still like “Ave Maria”.
 
mozart-250 said:
Sure:

Now you got me thinking on what arrangements are out there that I am familiar with.

Isn’t there one based on the C major prelude from Bach Well Tempered Clavier book 1 (a very well known Bach prelude).

I also seem to recall one based on a familiar Schubert Seranade.

But anyway, I’m a musical snob and still like “Ave Maria”.
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The one based on the Bach prelude no.1 from the Well Tempered Clavier is known as Bach-Gounod. Gounod used the prelude and improvised a tune which became the vocal line. It’s normally sung in a different key such as F, because C would be too high!
 
Last Saturday, I went to a Lutheran Nursing Home with friends; there are quite many Catholic folks there. After we prayed the Rosary with those Catholic folks and 1 or 2 non-Catholic folks, an 80-ish year old lady singing the Ave Maria song along with one of our friends. She sang it beautifully. That was an awesome day visiting the elderly.
 
mark_a said:
No, I’m not trying to pick a fight, I’m just curious.
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I’m not a Protestant or a Catholic, but since half my family is Catholic, I’ve been exposed to both version of the Ave Maria (Schubert and Bach-Gounod) many times, as well as “The Lord’s Prayer”. For me, the best version of Ave Maria is the one by Marian Anderson.

As a lover of classical music and classical art, I’m very familiar with the religious aspects in both.

I find all three of the above-named songs (the two Ave Marias and The Lord’s Prayer) very beautiful as far as the music goes. I respect the beauty I find in what all religions have produced.
 
I had a Conservative Baptist acquaintance who loved listening to Perry Como sing “Ave Maria”.
 
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