{"id":533,"date":"2017-01-27T15:26:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T15:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/?post_type=chapter&p=533"},"modified":"2020-04-11T21:51:19","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:51:19","slug":"hildegard-2","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/chapter\/hildegard-2\/","title":{"raw":"Hildegard of Bingen","rendered":"Hildegard of Bingen"},"content":{"raw":"While most plainchant was composed anonymously, Hildegard was an\u00a0exception. She\u00a0also authored texts on various subjects ranging from medicine to spiritual revelations which were later approved by church authorities. \u00a0Hildegard is a fascinating historical figure so\u00a0the information below is extracted from the\u00a0 bulk of the Wikipedia article on the medieval composer\u00a0 presented below. A careful reading of the entire article is recommended:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hildegard_of_Bingen\u00a0<\/a>\r\n

Introduction<\/h2>\r\nSaint Hildegard of Bingen<\/b>, OSB,\u00a0(1098 \u2013 17 September 1179) \u00a0was a German writer, composer, philosopher,\u00a0Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess,\u00a0visionary, and polymath.\u00a0 She was born around the year 1098 to a family of the free lower nobility in the service of the Count Meginhard of Sponheim. \u00a0She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems. \u00a0 In her\u00a0Vita<\/i>, Hildegard states that from a very young age she had experienced visions. Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents offered her as an oblate (a layman living in a monastery under a modified rule and without vows.)\u00a0\u00a0to the church.\r\n\r\nVisions\r\n<\/strong>Hildegard says that she first saw \"The Shade of the Living Light\" at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions \u00a0and recognized that it was a gift that she could not explain to others.\r\n\r\nBetween November 1147 and February 1148 at the synod in Trier that Pope Eugenus heard about Hildegard\u2019s writings. It was from this that she received Papal approval to document her visions as revelations from the Holy Spirit giving her instant credence.\r\n\r\nOn 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies and cross over the room where she was dying.\r\n\r\nMusic<\/strong>\r\nAttention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard's music. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum<\/i>, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play.<\/span>\r\n\r\n. Listen to\u00a0O frondens virga<\/em><\/a> from\u00a0Ordo Virtutum<\/em>.\r\nHildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the <\/span>Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum.<\/i> The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard\u2019s own text and range from antiphons, hymns, and sequences, to responsories.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Her music is described as monophonic,\u00a0 consisting of one melodic line. Her soaring melodies could \u00a0push the boundaries of the more staid ranges of traditional Gregorian chant.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAnother feature of Hildegard's music is that it is highly melismatic<\/em><\/span>,<\/strong> often with recurring melodic units. Scholars also note the intimate relationship between music and text. \u00a0Typical of \u00a0 medieval chant notation, Hildegard's music lacks \u00a0an indication of tempo or rhythm. The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints. \u00a0\u00a0Ordo Virtutum<\/i> (Play of the Virtues<\/i>), is a morality play, \u00a0thought to have been composed as early as 1151.\u00a0<\/span>The play consists of\u00a0monophonic melodies for the Anima (human soul) and 16 Virtues. There is also one speaking part for the Devil. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, \u00a0provopst of the Monestary and Hildegard's confessor and scribe and a life long friend. \u00a0 Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima and the Virtues.\r\n\r\nListen to this Kyrie Eleison. This part of the Mass is a beautiful setting of the Kyrie eleison. It \u00a0is a good example as you can clearly hear the words (\"Kyrie Eleison\") \u00a0at 24 seconds. the song is quite florid and very melismatic (many notes to individual single syllables) .\r\n
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL<\/span><\/div>\r\n