Celine Dion's rendition of Schubert's
Ave Maria strikes me more than any other version I've
heard.
Two thoughts come to mind of why
this touches me so deeply. One is the French-Canadian thing. My own
grandfather was French-Canadian; the city where I was born and first
worked was highly French-Canadian; I went to university for four
years in Montreal; I've visited French-Canada many times over the
years; and it has just been in my mind seemingly forever. I recognize
it in Celine immediately. She sings this Ave Maria in English, but I
recognize that immediately also, as part of the French-Canadian
experience.
The other reason it strikes me so
strongly, I think, is the way she sings the phrase “Oh Mother hear a
suppliant child.” I share that vision, for those I love in their
hour, especially for that one woman whose humanity it was given to me to know most deeply.
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