Ave Maria

I wrote this piece in 2009 for the Christmas concert of the girls choir MainzVokal, which was supposed to take place with string quartet accompaniment due to the broken organ at the concert church.

The well-known Marian prayer is here accompanied by an unusual dance-like rhythm, which gives the prayer a certain urgency, but at the same time also radiates confidence that Mary will answer the prayer.

In the middle part the piece calms down and is characterized more by humility towards the gentle, holy Mary, which briefly turns into urgent pleading at the passage "in hora mortis nostrae" ("at the hour of our death") before the piece returns to the opening theme and finally ends in a suspenseful coda.

Instrumentation: SSAA, string quartet

Length: 8 min

Girls choir MainzVocal

1. violin: Frederic Mörth, 2. violin: Cathrin Räpple, viola: Sarina Kurz, cello: Sebastian Müller-Runte,

Conductor: Thomas Hanelt

Recording: 2009