{"id":2231,"date":"2012-08-28T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2231"},"modified":"2012-08-28T10:06:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T10:06:06","slug":"vietato-cantare-lave-maria-in-chiesa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/vietato-cantare-lave-maria-in-chiesa\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietato Cantare l’Ave Maria in Chiesa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c8 vietato cantare l\u2019Ave Maria in chiesa!<\/strong> (It\u2019s forbidden to sing the Hail Mary in church!) Unbelievable but true! But why?<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, actor and film director Michele Placido, originally from Foggia in Puglia, got married to the young actress Federica Vincenti. He asked his old friend Al Bano, a famous pop singer from the same region, to perform Gounod\u2019s Ave Maria at the end of the religious ceremony, but a few hours before the wedding Al Bano was advised by Michele Placido\u2019s secretary not to sing it:  apparently both Gounod\u2019s and Schubert\u2019s versions of Ave Maria have been banned from the churches of Puglia because they are not considered to be religious songs!<\/p>\n

Here is the justification as explained in the 1994 edict of the Puglia Church: \u201cL\u2019Ave Maria di Schubert parla di due innamorati che convivono nel peccato\u201d<\/strong> (Schubert\u2019s Ave Maria talks of two lovers who live together in sin). How is this possible? Well, Schubert\u2019s Ave Maria was composed for a song<\/font> <\/font>based on Sir Walter Scott\u2019s poem \u201cThe Lady of the Lake\u201d. In the poem the beautiful young heroine, Ellen Douglas, is forced to hide out in a mountain cave, along with her father, when her family is exiled by the king due to their political beliefs<\/font>.  There she sings a song, "Hymn to the Virgin", a prayer to the Virgin Mary for help and comfort. In the original song<\/font> <\/font>the prayer is in the German language, and begins and ends<\/font> with the words \u201cAve Maria\u201d (Hail Mary). In time, the words of the prayer were changed to those of the traditional Latin prayer, and the main melody was separated from the rest of the work<\/font><\/font>, becoming a religious song in its own right.<\/p>\n

As for Gounod\u2019s Ave Maria, the problem is that \u201crielabora un preludio di J.S. Bach sfruttato poi da un editore ebreo\u201d<\/strong> (it develops one of J.S. Bach\u2019s preludes, which was then used by a Jewish publisher). Gounod, a profoundly Catholic man, originally composed a  melody for violin accompanied by a piano playing a variation on Bach\u2019s prelude n.1. It was published in 1853 as an instrumental under the title \u201cMeditation\u201d, the lyrics being added later. The \u2018sin\u2019 in this case is not in the words, which are those of the Latin prayer, but in the fact that Gounod used a theme from Bach, who was Protestant, which, to make matters worse, was published by a Jew!<\/p>\n

When Al Bano was told about the veto, he was outraged: \u201c\u00c8 pazzesco – aveva detto Al Bano poche ore prima del matrimonio – \u00e8 una decisione che non posso accettare n\u00e9 come cantante n\u00e9 come cristiano. L’ho cantata in tutto il mondo, davanti a Papa Giovanni Paolo II, a Madre Teresa di Calcutta e ora, a casa mia, nella mia terra, mi sento dire che non posso cantarla. Siamo davvero all’assurdo!\u201d <\/strong>(It\u2019s crazy \u2013 said Al bano a few hours before the wedding \u2013 it\u2019s a decision that I can\u2019t accept, neither as a singer, nor as a Christian. I\u2019ve sung it all over the world, in front of Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and now, in my home, in my own country, I\u2019m told that I can\u2019t sing it. This is really absurd!). So, being a very determined person, Al Bano arrived at the wedding just before the end and sung Gounod\u2019s Ave Maria, e al diavolo le polemiche! <\/strong>(and to hell with the arguments!)<\/p>\n

P.S. to be honest, I don\u2019t like Al Bano as a singer (his real name is Albano Carrisi). If you want to listen to a lovely performance of Schubert\u2019s Ave Maria click here<\/font><\/strong><\/a>, and here is Gounod\u2019s version<\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/font> <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c8 vietato cantare l\u2019Ave Maria in chiesa! (It\u2019s forbidden to sing the Hail Mary in church!) Unbelievable but true! But why? A couple of weeks ago, actor and film director Michele Placido, originally from Foggia in Puglia, got married to the young actress Federica Vincenti. He asked his old friend Al Bano, a famous pop…<\/p>\n

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