Charles Gounod, French composer famous for his "Ave Maria", based on a work by Bach, and his operas "Faust" and "Romeo and Juliet", focused mostly on operas and religious music.
His mother being a pianist, he was immersed into music and composition early in life and then began studies at the Paris Conservatory where he won a prize for one of his compositions. When he was 20, he left Italy to study religious music, for which he was passionate. This passion also led him to consider becoming a priest, something which he later abandoned as a thought, although later in life he returned to his early religious impulses, writing much sacred music.
As a person, he was often prey to frequent attacks of severe guilty religious conscience, psychosomatic illnesses, and even nervous breakdowns over his relationships and actions.
His opera "Faust" became very successful, however it was controversial as some critics believed it was not his own work, being far more sophisticated than Gounod's prior works. One critic was also challenged for a duel when he stated this belief in public, which he withdrew afterwards.
Gounod admired Bach and believed that the "The Well-Tempered Clavier", a collection of music pieces (preludes and fugues) written by Bach, was "the unquestioned textbook of musical composition". He composed the famous "Ave Maria" by putting a second theme over Bach's Prelude No 1 of the "Well-Tempered Clavier", although he did not consider this music a major work of his career as it was basically Bach's composition.
