Ave Maria No. 21 – Mater Eucharistiæ: SATB choir, unaccompanied
Durata: ca. 7:30
Premiere: The Cor Mundi Chamber Choir, Daniel Knaggs, cond., January 31, 2026
Commissioned by: Mrs. Caryn Vukelich
Watch the premiere of Ave Maria No. 21 below, performed by the Cor Mundi Chamber Choir:
Program notes:
Ave Maria No. 21 – Mater Eucharistæ is the 21st annual Ave Maria in my 50-year Ave Maria Project (2005-2054).
Commissioned by Mrs. Caryn Vukelich for Cor Mundi’s This Wondrous Child program, Ave Maria No. 21 weaves together voices from across the centuries to illuminate the mystery of the Incarnation. The piece opens with radiant words of Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), praising Mary as the one through whom God took on flesh. Into this texture, I introduce two lines from Thomas Aquinas’s Eucharistic hymn Pange Lingua, highlighting the deep connection between Christ’s birth and the gift of His Body and Blood.
The sung Aves begin as an address to Mary, the Mother of God, but gradually a final wave of Aves emerges, now directed to her Son. This shift coincides with a quotation of another ancient Eucharistic hymn Ave Verum Corpus (author unknown), allowing the voices of history to converge in reverence for the mystery of Christ, born of Mary and offered for the life of the world.
Text:
Hildegard von Bingen, St. Thomas Aquinas, Unknown
Ave Maria,
O auctrix vite,
O dulcissima
atque amantissima mater, salve,
que natum tuum de celo missum
mundo edidisti:
quem inspiravit Spiritus Dei.
Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine.
Tu mirabiliter abscondisti in te
inmaculatam carnem
per divinam racionem,
cum Filius Dei
in ventre tuo floruit,
sancta divinitate eum educente
contra carnis iura:
Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine.
Deinde facta est esca hominibus
Et gaudium magnum epulantium
Unde, O suavis Virgo
In te non deficit ullum gaudium.
O Iesu dulcis,
O Iesu pie,
O Iesu, fili Mariæ
Ave.
Translation:
by Daniel Knaggs
Hail Mary,
O Life-giver, O sweetest
and most loving mother, hail,
who have given to the world
your son sent from heaven,
whom the spirit of God
breathed into you:
Given to us, born unto us
Of a pure and spotless Virgin.
Miraculously you hid in yourself
flesh made immaculate
by divine reason
when the Son of God
flowered in your womb,
holy divinity bringing him forth
against the laws of flesh.
Given to us, born unto us
Of a pure and spotless Virgin.
Thus heavenly food was made for humankind,
And great was the joy of those who ate of it.
From this time forth, O sweet Virgin,
No joy is lacking in you.
O sweet Jesus,
O tender Jesus,
O Jesus, son of Mary
Hail.