Ave Maria solo voice + orchestra, based on Adagio in G minor by Albinoni

Adagio in G minor (Remo Giazotto, formerly attr. to Albinoni)

Although the composition is usually referred to as "Albinoni's Adagio," or "Adagio in G minor by Albinoni, arranged by Giazotto," the attribution is inverted. Albinoni's contribution to it rests upon Giazotto's purported discovery of a tiny manuscript fragment (consisting of a few measures of the melody line and basso continuo portion) from a slow second movement of an Albinoni trio sonata. According to Giazotto's account, he obtained the document shortly after the end of World War II from the Saxon State Library in Dresden, which − though its buildings were destroyed in the bombing raids of February and March 1945 by the British and American Air Forces − had evacuated and preserved most of its collection. Giazotto concluded the manuscript fragment was a portion of a church sonata (sonata da chiesa, one of two standard forms of the trio sonata) in G minor composed by Albinoni, possibly as part of his Op. 4 set, around 1708. Giazotto himself then constructed the balance of the complete single-movement work around the fragmentary theme he ascribed to Albinoni, copyrighted it, and published it in 1958. It has since been established as an entirely original work by Giazotto.