Ave Maria for SATB Choir

Ave Maria…virgo serena for four voices is arguably the best known of Josquin’s motets. Since it appeared in the Venetian publisher Petrucci’s first published collection of polyphonic motets, where it had pride of place, this composition attained a popularity that it has retained to the present day. Quoting the first few lines and the opening melody of a Gregorian chant sequence as a prelude, the composer freely sets a rhymed poem of five stanzas familiar from French and German books of hours (prayer books) dating back to the 14th century. Each stanza begins with the word “Ave” and describes one of the five joyful mysteries of the Blessed Virgin. The motet concludes with a moving personal plea of utmost simplicity and directness: “O Mother of God, remember me.”