Ave Maria
Franz Biebl
General Information
Instrumentation
|
Purchase OptionsLook/ListenUGA JanFest Honor Band
|
Program Note
In its original form, Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria (1967) is written for expanded male chorus, beginning with an antiphon sung by a four-part choir, answered by a smaller three-part choir. The source of the Latin text is the Angelus liturgy, which is recited three times a day (6am, noon, and 6pm) in the Catholic Church. It is cued by a bell (sometimes referred to as the “Peace Bell”), and consists of three versicles based on the Gospel, followed each time by a Hail Mary (“Ave Maria”). It was popularized in the United States in large part because of the magnificent recording by the famed male chorus, Chanticleer (“Our Heart’s Joy,” available through www.chanticleer.org).
Franz Biebl was born in Pursruck, Germany in 1906. When he was 20 years old he enrolled at the Musikhochschule (State Music College) in Munich, where he studied composition under Joseph Haas and took the Master Class for composing and conducting. Biebl was drafted into the German Army during World War II and was captured by American soldiers in Italy in 1944, serving time as a Prisoner of War at Fort Custer, near Battle Creek, Michigan. After the war he returned to Europe, and in 1959 he became the founding director of the Department of Choral Music at the Bavarian State Radio Broadcasting Company. On 2 October 2001, Biebl died following a brief illness. He was 95 years old.
Franz Biebl was born in Pursruck, Germany in 1906. When he was 20 years old he enrolled at the Musikhochschule (State Music College) in Munich, where he studied composition under Joseph Haas and took the Master Class for composing and conducting. Biebl was drafted into the German Army during World War II and was captured by American soldiers in Italy in 1944, serving time as a Prisoner of War at Fort Custer, near Battle Creek, Michigan. After the war he returned to Europe, and in 1959 he became the founding director of the Department of Choral Music at the Bavarian State Radio Broadcasting Company. On 2 October 2001, Biebl died following a brief illness. He was 95 years old.