The French Bach cult, which began in the early 19th century, reached an initial highpoint around 1850. Charles Gounod, still largely unknown at the time, also studied Bach’s works intensively – his chorales, motets, and the preludes and fugues of the 48. He is said to have improvised his expressive, cantabile melody over the famous broken chords of Bach’s C-major Prelude BWV 846 from the 48 at a private performance in 1852. This arrangement would later became world famous when underlaid with the text of the Ave Maria. Several instrumental versions of it were initially published in 1853, including one for solo piano by Gounod himself that is presented here for the first time as an Urtext edition.
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Preface
The newly composed melody added by Charles Gounod (1818 – 93) to the Prelude no. 1 in C major BWV 846 from Johann Sebastian Bach’s WellTempered Clavier has come down to us in very different instrumental and vocal versions. The work initially bore the title Méditation (in C major). However, the piece soon evolved from an intimate duo for violin and piano into a motet … more
About the composer
Charles Gounod
One of the most important French composers of the Second Empire, who in his twelve operas, masses, and other liturgical works, oratorios, songs, and instrumental music consciously composed his music in a French style.
| 1818 | Born in Paris on June 17, to a painter father and pianist mother. Studies with Anton Reicha. |
| from 1836 | Studies as the Conservatoire de Paris (including with Halévy, Le Sueur, Paer); in 1839 he wins the Prix de Rome. |
| 1840–42 | Years of study in Rome. He mainly composes liturgical music. |
| 1843 | Organist and music director at the Église des Missions étrangères in Paris. |
| 1851 | Premiere of “Sapho,” his first commission from the Paris Opéra thanks to the influence of mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot. |
| 1852 | Conductor of the Orphéon Choral Society in Paris. |
| 1854 | Performance of “La nonne sanglante” (“The Bloody Nun”) to a libretto by Scribe and Delavigne, with only middling success. |
| 1855 | “Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile,” one of his masterworks. |
| 1855/56 | Symphonies No. 1 in D major and No. 2 in E-flat major, which prepare the way for the French symphonic tradition after the 1870s. |
| 1859 | Breakthrough with the premiere of his opera “Faust,” after Goethe, making him one of France’s most famous opera composers. It establishes the new opera genre of drame lyrique. Composition of the “Ave Maria, mélodie religieuse adaptée au 1er prélude de J. S. Bach.” |
| 1864 | Premiere of “Mireille” (set in the rural milieu of French Provence) and in 1867 of “Roméo et Juliette” (foregoes tableaus; private intrigue) at the Théâtre-Lyrique. |
| 1870–74 | Because of the Franco-Prussian War he lives in London. |
| 1881 | After the premiere of “Le tribut de Zamora” he composes no more operas, primarily only religious works, including twelve masses and the choral work “La Rédemption” (1882). |
| 1893 | Death in Saint-Cloud near Paris on October 18. |