La canción de la semana #992

...is Ave Maria often (mis)attributed to Giulio Caccini (1551—1618). In fact it was composed by the Soviet musician Vladimir Vavilov (1925—1973) and first appeared on his 1970 LP «Лютневая музыка XVI—XVII вв.» (Lute music of the 16th–17th centuries)^*. There, Ave Maria was performed by Nadezhda Vainer (vocal), Mark Shakhin (organ), and Vavilov himself (lute) and was ascribed to a "16th-century anonymous author". In 1975, Ave Maria appeared on the album Старинные Арии by Irina Bogacheva where it was attributed to Caccini.

Since then, the aria became enormously popular and has been performed by artists such as Irina Arkhipova, Sumi Jo, Andrea Bocelli, Julian Lloyd Webber, Libera, KOKIA, Amira Willighagen... I leave you with the instrumental version by Oiasso Kamerata (Irún, Spain) featuring Rebekka Riedel (cello).

*	This record was a brilliant musical mystification: apart from Greensleeves and Galliard, all the tracks were composed by Vavilov. For example, the opener, Canzona, was ascribed to Francesco da Milano (1497—1543). In the 1980s, this song, as «Город золотой», with lyrics by Alexei Khvostenko and Anri Volokhonsky, was recorded by Aquarium and became one of their biggest hits.