Ave maris stella
General information
Hymn to the Virgin Mary (8th cent., author anon.)
Liturgical use: Hymn at Vespers on feasts of the Virgin Mary.
Mary's title of stella maris was first proposed by St. Jerome, in his treatise Liber de nominibus hebraicis (probably around AD 390), in which he explains the etymology of Hebrew names. He quotes unidentified sources as explaining the name of Mary as smyrna maris, literally bitterness of the sea. The Hebrew word miriam indeed refers to bitterness - it is explained as such in the anonymous Jewish account The life of Moses. St. Jerome dismisses the 'bitter' etymology, however, and proposes to change her title to stella maris. In order to justify his proposal, he quotes Syrus, most likely his contemporary St. Ephraem Syrus, who had insisted on Mary's status as domina or mistress.
View the Wikipedia article on Ave maris stella.
Notes on selected settings
|
|
|
Settings by composers (automatically updated)
- Francisco Alcantar — Latin SSA
- Felice Anerio — Latin SATB
- Anonymous — Latin SATB
- Anonymous — Latin SATB
- Anonymous — Latin SATB
- Anonymous — Latin TTT
- Anonymous — Latin STT
- Anonymous — Latin TBBB
- Anonymous — Latin SATB
- Anonymous — Latin STB
- Giovanni Matteo Asola — Latin ATTB, ATBB, TTBB, TBBB
- Giovanni Matteo Asola — Latin ATBB
- Giovanni Matteo Asola — Latin AAATTTBB
- Giovanni Biordi — Latin SATB
- Giovanni Biordi — Latin SST.ATB
- William Byrd — Latin ATB
- Cristoforo Caresana — Latin SATB
- Jean de Castro — Latin ST,TB
- Francesco Cavalli — Latin ATB
- Rodrigo de Ceballos — Latin SATB
- Mark Chapman — Latin SATB, AATB, AABB
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier — Latin SATBBB
- Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari — Latin SATB
- Andrea Cogliati — Latin SATB
- Petrus Damiani — Latin SATB
- Léo Delibes — Latin SA
- Johann Melchior Dreyer — Latin SATB
- Benedictus Ducis — Latin AATTBB
- Guillaume Dufay — Latin SAB
- Sebastián Durón — Latin SSAT.SATB
- Antonín Dvořák — Latin A,B
- Edward Elgar — Latin SATB
- Caspar Ett — Latin ATTB, SATB
- Mariano Garau — Latin SAB
- Mariano Garau — Latin SAA
- Cristian Gentilini — Latin SATB
- André da Silva Gomes — Latin SATB
- Charles Gounod — Latin TTBB,SSAA,SATB
- Gregorian chant — Latin Unison
- Edvard Grieg — Latin SATB, TTBB, SSA, SSSAA
- Hans Leo Hassler — Latin SATB
- Johann David Heinichen — Latin SATB
- Václav Emanuel Horák — Latin SATB
- Josquin des Prez — Latin SATB
- Michael J. Drake, Jr. — Latin SATB
- Iñaki Kareaga — Latin SAB
- Orlando di Lasso — Latin ATBB
- Jan Le Febure — Latin SATB
- José Lidón — Latin SATB
- Franz Liszt — Latin SATB
- Jacquet de Mantua — Latin SATB
- Abel Di Marco — Latin SATB
- Joseph Mohr — Latin SATB
- Cristoforo Montemayor — Latin SATB
- Claudio Monteverdi — Latin SSAATTBB
- José Maurício Nunes Garcia — Latin SATB
- José Maurício Nunes Garcia — Latin SATB
- Josef Ohnewald — Latin SATB
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Latin SATB
- Paolo Pandolfo — Latin SATB
- Jacobus Clemens non Papa — Latin STTTB
- Ginés Pérez de la Parra — Latin SATB
- Lorenzo Perosi — Latin SATB
- Eduard Perrone — Latin SATB
- Pascal Picard — Latin SATBB
- Jean-Marie Plum — Latin S
- Tim Pratt — English SATB
- Oreste Ravanello — Latin SSA
- Jacob Regnart — Latin SSATB
- Josef Rheinberger — Latin SATB
- Kathryn Rose — English SATB
- Oscar Santos — Latin SATB
- Josef Ignaz Schnabel — Latin SATB
- John Sheppard — Latin SSATTBB
- Johannes Nepomuk Skraup — Latin SATB
- Josep Navarro i Solves — Latin TTBB
- Francesco Soriano — Latin SATB
- Francesco Soriano — Latin 3 equal voices
- Johann Stadlmayr — Latin SATB
- J. G. Stalnaker — English SATB
- Thomas Stoltzer — Latin ATBB
- Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck — Latin TTB
- Paolo Teodori — Latin SSATTB
- Hristo Tsanoff —
- Jacobus Vaet — Latin SSATTB
- Tomás Luis de Victoria — Latin SATB
- Tomás Luis de Victoria — Latin SATB
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin TTB
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin SATB
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin SA
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin SSA
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin SSA
- Franciszek Walczyński — Latin SATB
- Franz Xaver Witt — Latin SATB
- Vlad Zoborovski — Latin SATB
Text and translations
 Latin textAve, maris stella, |
 English translationHail, star of the sea,
|
 German translationSei gegrüßt, du Stern des Meeres, |
 French translationSalut, étoile de la mer, |
 Hungarian translationTengernek csillaga, |
 Dutch translationWees gegroet, o Zeester,
|
 Portuguese translationAve, estrela do mar, |