Ayo Ellen Prayer Twist on Schubert's Ave Maria
The Backstory
Ellens Gesang III in B-flat major, D. 839, Op. 52 No. 6
Yo yo yo, what's good, fam, it's me, Schubert, and I'm droppin' the backstory of my Ave Maria right now, deadass! Peep this, bruh: the story goes my song first rang out at Countess Sophie Weissenwolff's castle in Steyregg, Austria, and nobody knows who sang it or when, which is straight-up mystery-movie stuff, no cap! Right after this, hit the Trainer , homie, cuz my fellow composers and I are teachin' ya on this site to recognize our pieces the second they play, so go flex it!
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My Title Sounds Like A Sneeze
Ayo, hold up, fam, my official title is Ellens Gesang III, and that sounds like somebody sneezed into a German dictionary, lol! Everybody just yells 'Ave Maria' at it, though, so my real title got ghosted harder than a text on read, bruh! It's also called Ellen's Third Song, which means I wrote that girl three of 'em, no cap, three whole songs! And this one's the third, so it's basically the headliner of Ellen's mini concert, my dude, straight fire!The Squad Of Seven
Yo, this tune never rolled solo, cuz it's one of seven songs I cooked up from Walter Scott's 1810 poem The Lady of the Lake, word! Scott's poem is a whole saga, bro, and I grabbed seven slices of it like a kid at an all-you-can-eat buffet, zero shame! My Ave Maria sits at number six in that set, which got published as Op. 52, so it's the sixth man comin' off the bench, ya feel me? The words come from verse XXIX of Canto Three, and I'm tellin' ya, that's the exact spot where Ellen Douglas starts prayin', so peep that!Not A Church Thing, Chill
Okay, real talk, y'all keep thinkin' this is a church hymn, but nah, nope, wrong lane, homie! It's a song for one woman's voice and a piano, nothin' more, nothin' less, just two players and straight vibes! The whole thing comes from a secular Scott cycle, which is a fancy way of sayin' no pews, no incense, no organ guy sweatin' in the back, ya dig? So when Ellen sings, she's a character in a story, fam, not a choir kid at Sunday service, swear on my spectacles!1825 Was My Glow-Up Year
Listen, listen, 1825 was a lowkey fantastic year for me, with money worries chillin' way down for a while, thank goodness, 'cause my wallet was cryin'! Publishers started movin' faster than a pizza guy with a hot order, and I was like, finally, somebody pay the man! Same year, I also wrote my Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 845, so my brain was cookin' on every burner, no joke! Oh, and I started the Great C major Symphony too, which is basically me flexin' on myself, bruh, big boss energy!Off To The Printing Press
Alright, check it, the whole seven-song set landed in Vienna around 1826, courtesy of a publisher named Math. Artaria, word up! The title page reads Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scott's Fräulein vom See, Op. 52, which is a mouthful and a half, my friend! That print job meant my songs could jump out of my messy desk drawer and into actual living rooms, which was a total game changer, dawg! Imagine goin' from scribbled paper to a fresh printed edition, yo, I was floatin' like a balloon at a birthday bash!Shoutout To The Countess
Now peep this, the first edition has a dedication to Countess Sophie Weissenwolff, who was born a Countess Breunner, fancy fancy! That's my name on the cover and hers right under it, like a VIP stamp on a club wristband, boom! Dedicatin' a set to a countess was the classic move back then, cuz it said, hey, look at my classy friends, ya know? She got seven songs with her name on 'em, and I'm bettin' she was grinnin' like a kid with a double-scoop cone, no doubt!Castle Gossip In Steyregg
Okay, the story goes that my song first rang out at the castle of that very Countess Sophie Weissenwolff in Steyregg, Austria, so gather 'round, gossip squad! But nobody knows the date, and nobody knows who performed it, so don't come at me with receipts, cuz there ain't none! Picture some fancy folks in a castle hall, sippin' drinks with their pinkies out, and then this melody floats in like a ghost with great manners, yikes! It's a legend, fam, so I'm tellin' it as a legend, and that's the tea, sip it slow!Liszt Remixed My Jam
Yo, my buddy Franz Liszt heard this thing and went, I gotta mess with that, and he arranged it for solo piano, bro! Not once, not twice, but three versions, that dude was out here makin' remixes like a DJ with zero chill, wild! Solo piano means all that singin' gets squeezed under ten fingers, so his hands had to hustle like a chef in a rush hour kitchen, whew! I'm honored, truly, though I'd pay good money to watch somebody try to play those versions after three espressos, hilarious!Mickey's Cartoon Cameo
Hold on, hold on, this one's wild: in Walt Disney's Fantasia, 1940, my song shows up right after Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, ya hear? First ya get demons and spooky chaos, then boom, my gentle tune slides in like a cozy blanket after a horror flick, sweet relief! Leopold Stokowski arranged it for soprano, mixed chorus and the strings of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Julietta Novis sang the solo, my guy, what a flex! Rachel Field wrote the English text for it, so my German-born tune went full Hollywood, and I didn't even need a red carpet, lowkey legendary!Still Everywhere, Still Slappin'
Sad but true, I died in Vienna in November 1828, aged 31, so I never got to see how big this tune would blow up, man, rough! Today it's at weddings, funerals and Christmas services all over the planet, so I'm basically the busiest guest on every calendar, deadass! Folks often use simplified arrangements with lyrics that differ from Scott's, which is cool, cuz my melody can handle any outfit, trust! So next time ya hear it float by, give a little nod, bestie, cuz that's me wavin' at ya from 1825, peace out!---
Yo yo yo, fam, we just rolled from one summer holiday in Upper Austria all the way to the whole wide world, and I'm still shook, deadass! Think about it: I wrote a song for a girl in a poem, and now it's floatin' through chapels and living rooms like it owns the entire planet, no cap! So, real talk, did you enjoy diggin' into the backstory of Ave Maria, homie? 'Cause there's a whole mountain of stuff left to explore, and I'm barely scratchin' the surface, bruh! Franz Liszt flipped my tune into solo piano in three different versions, and that's straight-up wild, right? Then Walt Disney dropped it into Fantasia in 1940 right after Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, which is the craziest mood swing ever, from spooky chaos to pure chill, my guy! So smash those links below, cuz there's more good stuff waitin' on ya, I'm talkin' major vibes! Go explore, take your sweet time, and keep that glow in your chest, 'cause I'll catch ya on the next track, peace out!