At the end of his life Verdi returned to his beginnings as a church musician.
Verdi was inspired in 1889 to compose Ave Maria by the enigmatic scale C - D-flat - E - F-sharp - G-sharp - A-sharp - B - C which Adolfo Crescentini (1854-1921) had published in Ricordi's magazine Gazetta musicale di Milano, inviting composers to harmonise it.