Ave Maria Composer

Schubert and Mozart are not the only two who composed Ave Maria. Ave Maria is christian prayer which had been composed  by 17 different composers, so as you understand there is no "actual composer". 

Take a look at this list of Ave Maria composers.  

Ave Maria is an old Latin text from the Catholic Church.  It came about from the "Hail Mary."

The original Latin text is: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Which translates to: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee

The popular "Ave Maria" tune typically heard at weddings and the such, is written by Franz Shubert.  The actual name of the piece is: Ellens Gesang III ("Ave Maria"), D. 839 (Op. 52/6) Ave Maria.

There is some speculation on the origin of the melody.  Typically, composers will borrow pre-composed melodys and adapt them for their own purposes.  This happend with "Ave Maria," as the original tune was originally composed by Walter Scott.

 More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellens_dritter_Gesang

 Hope it helps!

Schubert's Ave Maria is probably the most famous version. Usually sung during Christmas.

The other one that most often comes to mind is the Bach/Gounod. Charles Gounod took J. S. Bach's famous Prelude in C Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier and wrote a melody to go over the accompaniment-like arpeggio texture of the Bach piece.

Here's a link to a page with several versions to sample, though the Mozart doesn't seem to be there.

http://www.uniquetracks.com/cd/CC2.htm

You'll find versions by Schubert, Bach/Gounod, Kachini, Rachmaninov, Donizetti, Verdi, Cherubine, and more. 

According to Conrad Askland:

 Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” was originally a prayer from a frightened girl and called “Ellen’s Song III” and not intended for liturgical services. However, the music was instantly inspirational to listeners, so Latin text was substituted in time to make it suitable for church services.
The original lyrics were in English, a poem called “Lady of the Lake” by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). The original English was translated into German by Adam Storck D 839 (Spring 1825) First Published in 1826 as Op. 52, No. 6. - It was the German words that Schubert used for his original. Later the Ellen’s Song III (Ave Maria as we know it today) had the latin text forced on it...

 excerpted from his blog, here:

http://www.conradaskland.com/blog/2006/07/ave-maria-lyrics-franz-schubert/

 (Sorry, I don't know how to inert hyperlinks. When forums start posting instructions for using their technocr*p, I'll start using it!)