Free Ave Maria Sheet Music for Piano

In 1722 J.S Bach wrote the famous work “The Well-tempered Clavier” Part 1. Twenty years later, he completed another set of preludes and fugues. These are now referred to as Part 2. This work in two parts has become a staple for every serious pianist.

The two volumes contain a Prelude and a Fugue for each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys, beginning with the very popular Prelude in C major (Click here for a free PDF).

The well-known C major prelude is one of the easiest pieces to play in this collection, and I really recommend giving it a go! The C major Prelude is not for the absolute beginner but on an intermediate level. You need to have learned to read notes and be able to play 16th notes evenly.

This Prelude is what the Ave Maria sheet music by Gounod is based upon.

In 1859, a French Romantic composer named Charles Gounod, inspired by the Prelude by Bach, arranged it and added a melody to be sung or played with it.

Since the C major Prelude by Bach is a progression of broken chords, without any obvious melody, it is easy to understand anyone wanting to add something like a melody to it.

J.S Bach himself thought it enough with a harmonic progression of chords as the humble introduction to the massive work, called The Well-tempered Clavier. And it is, indeed, a lovely piece just by itself.

Gounod called his arrangement: Meditation on a Prelude by Bach. This beloved piece has since become a "classic" in its own right.

Another, perhaps the most, famous version of Ave Maria (Ave Maria! Jungfrau mild!) was composed by Franz Schubert.

This song was written in 1825 as the sixth (Ellen's third) song (lieder) in a song cycle of seven songs based upon the poems by Walter Scott called "The Lady of the Lake".

Ellen Douglas is the lady of the lake “Loch Katrine” in the Scottish highlands. Ave Maria is the prayer to Virgin Mary for help as Ellen has fled with her father and is hiding in a cave.

Later, the Latin text of the “Ave Maria” from the Roman Catholic prayer was used instead of the original text.

It became so popular that many mistakenly thought Schubert composed it to that text.

Click here to purchase a beautiful and EASY version for piano solo.