Bertold Hummel composed the motet Gegrüßet seist du Maria on 20 May 1993 and dedicated it to the memory of his deeply devout sister Erika (1904 -1993). My father, who also co-founded the Würzburg Bruckner Festival in the same year, consciously understood this motet as a salute to Anton Bruckner, whose famous 7-part Ave Maria it echoes: In the first section, both composers chose the juxtaposition of upper and lower voices, and on the name of Jesus, Bertold Hummel quotes Bruckner's final cadence before the Amen. In 1997, he created a Latin version based on this model.(Ave Maria op. 97e2)

The text of this so-called English greeting is based on passages from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1, 28b, 42), which were expanded over time to include additions such as Jesus (14th century) and the invocation of Mary (16th century). In 1568 it was officially recognised as a prayer when it was included in the breviary of Pius V. The German translation set to music here corresponds to the ecumenical version in use since 1968.

Martin Hummel