Various Artists: "Ave Maria"

I grew up attending a church with my grandmother. The sermons put me to sleep, but before the sermon came the songs. Church was the only place you were expected to be able to sing four-part harmony without practicing. I'd thumb through the hymnal, my fingers tracing the music lines of my favorite hymns over the thin pages. There was always one verse in the music staff, and eighteen additional verses scrunched into the bottom margin. My grandmother assured me that no one would hear me if I said the wrong words or sang the wrong notes, so I went for it, straining for the top soprano notes, then finding the alto's harmony. Christmas songs were the best, because some of them had shaken out into the secular world and I knew them already. "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" were my favorites, particularly the "Gloria" refrain of the latter, which was my first ever public singing solo (in the church Christmas pageant, natch).

I grew up in admiration of "Ave Maria," but as a Catholic intercession prayer, we didn't sing it in my Protestant church. The song has been set to music multiple times, most notably by German composer Franz Schubert in 1825. He was just 28 years old, and he wrote the music for Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake," in which the song is also known as "Ellen's Third Song." The melody has become one of the most recognizable (and universally tear-jerking) Catholic songs in the world, sung at services, weddings, funerals, and any other time the Virgin Mary may be asked to intercede. I'll ask Pavarotti to do the honors:

In 1859, French composer Charles Gounod wrote another version of "Ave Maria," which he imposed over J.S. Bach's "Prelude No. 1 in C Major." I'll let Bobby McFerrin take you through a guided tour of that one:

So the problem I faced as I prepared today's post was that I wanted to include this song in Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas, but I literally could not pick. It would be impossible to choose just one to represent the set, the whole spectrum of experiences. So I offer instead a cornucopia of versions from different artists. (For any easy way to flip through, visit my Daijams YouTube playlist and choose your starting place.)

Tarja Turunen is an enigma. She's got a three-octave vocal range and could easily headline operas worldwide. Instead she's best known as the lead singer of a Finnish symphonic metal band. I repeat -- a Finnish symphonic metal band. You've got to hear it for yourself, so here's a video. She was kicked out of the band in 2005 and has since led a successful solo career that kicked off with -- what else? -- a Christmas album. Here's her 2006 performance of Schubert's "Ave Maria."

Next, Beyonce's got the full diva treatment here, from the fan blowing her hair to the mid-song outfit change to the audacity to add new words to "Ave Maria." She's certainly got the pipes for it.

And we'll end with another Schubert version...this just blows me away. This 10-year-old girl emotes like she's been singing for 50 years. Her name is Jackie Evancho, and she did not win this talent competition, but she's going to take over the world. That's if she ignores the whispers of the Ghosts of Child Stars past. Stay in school, Jackie! (But keep singing!)

Wait, what's that? You say Jackie Evancho also performed the Bach/Goudon version of "Ave Maria" back when she was nine in what looks like a school gymnasium, surrounded by balloons? Oh we should definitely check that out.