Ave Maria (Organ solo) - Giulio Caccini | arr. John Ross
This is a live recording (from a church service) of Caccini's Ave Maria arranged for Organ solo by John Ross. It has become a popular piece at weddings as an alternative to the Schubert or Bach-Gounod variants.
The interesting thing about this particular arrangement is that I actually know John Ross personally! The score is available for purchase online, along with other arrangements of the Caccini such as: High voice (Strings), High voice (Piano), Soprano and Alto duet (Piano), Soprano and Alto duet (Organ), SATB (Organ), Medium voice (Piano), High voice (String quartet), Medium voice (Strings), Low voice (Organ), SATB (Piano), Low voice (Piano) and Medium voice (Organ). As you can see, John has just about catered for all the possibilities here. It's not hard to believe that the Caccini is his best selling arrangement on sheetmusicplus.com.
The 4 rank Laurie Pipe Organ
Centered around the key of E minor, this Caccini arrangement calls for a solo registration left up to the discretion of the organist. The organ I'm playing on is small 4-rank unit organ by Laurie. There's quite a variety of tonal colours available on it through, due to its derived mutation ranks. It also has a Trumpet at 8-foot pitch but unfortunately it's not under expression. Interestingly, the manuals are labelled "Swell" and "Great", yet the expression pedal is not what it seems to be—it's actually a crescendo pedal! There are no couplers either (and it wouldn't make sense because every rank is already available on each division). Calling the Swell a "Positive" would have been much more appropriate.
The console (detached)
Asides from my minor sidetrack details about the organ, the solo combination I used for the Caccini was the 8' Principal and 8' Stopt Diapason. I used two 8-foot stops to give it more depth and an "ensemble" sound. For the accompaniment I just used the 8' Stopt Diapason. What did you think of this registration?
In just over 5 minutes, Cacinni takes us through the most exquisite harmonies led by a gorgeous, singing melody. It's frequently imitated without the solo in a dialogue-like fashion. It seemingly harrows as a piece that will never end, but eventually it winds up into a very warm E minor chord. What do you think of the Caccini? Do you prefer the version by Schubert or the Bach-Gounod? Let me know in the comments.
Yours truly,
@contrabourdon
(All pictures taken by me)
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Besides that it is a beautiful piece, that other noteworthy thing about this piece by Caccini, is that is isn't by Caccini at all. It's an attribution that sticked around because it is commercially more attractive, than naming the real composer: Vladimir Vavilov.
Same as Albinoni’s attribution too. Caccini sounds better 😅
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Interesting to read about the specs of that organ and the minimalism your recording was created with --- quite effective and well worked out!
Fun fact: This piece was known to me only because a friend of mine practiced it about nine months ago. When he did, he also asked me for a by-ear improvisation, which of course I couldn't deny...
His Hauptwerk practice video:
My Hauptwerk by-ear impro:
Hope you'll find these interesting enough to explore! :-)
Wow thanks! You have a good ear :)
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