Annunciation meditation in Music and Art

The Feast of Annunciation that the entire Catholic world celebrates on March 25 has a special place among the Christian feasts. In the Middle Ages, there were countries, that began their calendar from March 25 and not from January 1.

Many pieces of art were dedicated to the Annunciation, helping the viewers to see the scene figuratively despite the reserved discretion of Luke the Evangelist.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the 19th century English painter, left us a beautiful work on the theme of the Annunciation, titled "Ecce Ancilla Domini" (Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord). Here we do not see the placid serenity that is so typical of the traditional art of the centuries preceding Rossetti. Before us we see a realistic situation, full of drama. The same traditional figures are there: Mary and the angel. Modest, without superfluous details, we are helped to focus and understand the enormous tension that would be Mary's. The words of the angel's greetings have already been heard: "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you" and the angel has already pronounced the will of the Most High.

Youthful Mary, chaste and pure, is humanly terrified by all that she sees and hears, by the decision that she must make. What can she respond to this Messenger? In this brief moment she sees before her very eyes a picture of the tortures her son will experience in his lifetime, and the coming pain in her own life. How appropriate it would be to say: No! No! No! - her terrified look reveals the difficult moment of the struggle in her soul. However, we know that very soon she will be glorifying the Lord: "My soul magnifies the Lord", full of joy and love for her Creator. However, right now, her suffering heart prays with words that many years later, in unspeakable torment, will fall from the lips of her son: "Abba! Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from me"(Mark 14; 36). Like her son, filled with obedience, she continues in her heart: "Yet not what I will, but what You will". And then, in a sudden silence, hearing "a still small voice"(the Lord was there), she breathes out the words that are salvific for us and for the entire world: ""Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word".

Here are some musical fragments that help us enter the joy of the Feast:

1. Divna Ljubojevic: Ave Maria in Russian
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2. Sergei Rachmaninow: Ave Maria
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3. Maria Calla sings Verdi's Ave Maria
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4. Nana Mouskouri sings an Ave Maria inspired by classical composers
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5. Andrea Boccelli sings the Ave Maria of Schubert
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