"I never force myself into devotion or compose hymns or prayers unless I am truly overpowered by the feeling; that alone is true devotion."
~Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828) was an Austrian, Early Romantic composer. He wrote over 600 Lieder (German songs), as well as symphonies, liturgical music, operas, and chamber and solo piano music. Schubert is best known for his genius for original melodic and harmonic writing.

Ave Maria was penned around 1825, when Schubert was twenty-eight years old. The text comes from Sir Walter Scott's (1771-1832), "The Lady of The Lake" and Schubert wrote the music for an excerpt from the poem. Ave Maria was written for voice and piano, and was first published in 1826 as Op 52 no 6. Schubert originally called his piece "Ellens dritter Gesang" (Ellen's third song) because in this particular excerpt the heroin, Ellen Douglas is in hiding and prays to the virgin Mary.

"My new songs from Scott's Lady of the Lake especially had much success. They also wondered greatly at my piety, which I expressed in a hymn to the Holy Virgin and which, it appears, grips every soul and turns it to devotion."
~Franz Schubert

Those who knew Schubert would not typically describe him as a purely devotional composer, but when struck with the right inspiration, he was able to pruduce true works of genius.