Ave Maria
German composer Franz Xaver Biebl (1906 – 2001) was born in Pursruck, Bavaria. He studied composition in Munich and served as choir director at the Catholic church there and as an assistant professor of choral music at the Mozarteum Academy of Music in Salzburg, Austria, where he taught voice and music theory.
Biebl was drafted into the military during World War II and was a prisoner of war from 1944 to 1946 being detained at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan. After the war, he moved to Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany, where he served as director of the town chorus.
Biebl's best-known work is his Ave Maria, composed sometime around 1959. It remained relatively unknown until it was brought to the United States by the Cornell University Glee Club in 1970. The ensemble met Biebl while on tour in Germany, and he gifted them several of his works, which the choir performed upon returning home. From then, the Ave Maria quickly gained popularity, establishing itself as a firm favourite in the choral repertoire.
This arrangement was made by David Bremner for the New Zealand band Wellington Brass