Ave Verum Corpus

M

usical settings include Mozart's motet Ave verum corpus (K. 618),[2] as well as settings by William Byrd and Sir Edward Elgar. Not all composers set the whole text. For example, Mozart's setting finishes with "in mortis examine", Elgar's with "fili Mariae". Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed three versions: H.233, H.266, H.329.

There is a version by Franz Liszt [Searle 44], and also ones by Camille Saint-Saëns, Orlande de Lassus, Imant Raminsh,[3] Alexandre Guilmant, William Mathias, Colin Mawby, Malcolm Archer[4] and Jack Gibbons.[5] Liszt also composed a fantasy on Mozart's work, preceded by a version of Allegri's celebrated Miserere, under the title À la Chapelle Sixtine [Searle 461 – two versions]. Versions of this fantasy for orchestra [Searle 360] and piano four-hands [Searle 633] follow closely the second version for piano.

There is also a version for organ [Searle 658] with the title Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine. The chant is included Poulenc's opera Dialogues of the Carmelites. The composer wrote a different "Ave verum corpus" in 1952.

Mozart's version, with instruments only, was adapted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as one of the sections of his Mozartiana, a tribute to Mozart. From the 21st century there are settings by the Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten[6] and the English composer Philip Stopford.[7]