A Feather on the Breath of God | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1982 | |||
Recorded | St Jude's Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, 14 September 1981 | |||
Genre | Sacred vocal music, plainchant, early music | |||
Length | 44:03 | |||
Label | Hyperion Records | |||
Producer | Martin Compton | |||
Gothic Voices chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
A Feather on the Breath of God is an album of sacred vocal music written in the 12th century by the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen, and recorded by British vocal ensemble Gothic Voices with English soprano Emma Kirkby. It was released by the Hyperion Records label in 1982. [2]
A Feather on the Breath of God is an album of early medieval plainchant. The decision to record the album was taken by the head of Hyperion Records, Ted Perry, after hearing a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 of music by Hildegard of Bingen, performed by an ensemble of singers directed by the musicologist Christopher Page. The broadcast inspired Perry to bring the vocalists together to record an album. [3]
The title of the album is taken from a passage in Hildegard's writings in which she describes herself:
Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I '"A feather on the breath of God." [4]
The music and Latin texts are derived from a contemporary medieval manuscript, Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (The Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations), a collection of music and poetry by Hildegard, which was sourced from the Hessische Landesbibliothek in Wiesbaden, Germany (M52) and edited by Page.
A Feather on the Breath of God was recorded in St. Jude's Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, on 14 September 1981, under the direction of the medieval musicologist Christopher Page. [5] [4]
The album was released in 1982 as a vinyl LP, and released on CD in 1985. [2] [5] The album cover art makes use of an illustration by Hildegard von Bingen from her manuscript Scivias , depicting a vision of the Creation. [4]
A Feather on the Breath of God has been critically acclaimed as an influential recording which has led to increased popularity of medieval music recordings. [6] Author Nick Wilson described it as "one of the best-selling and most influential recordings of pre-classical music ever made". [3] Writing in Billboard , Bradley Bambarger credited the album with starting "a craze for all things Hildegard" which inspired later recordings by artists such as Ensemble Organum and Anonymous 4. [7]
The album has received a number of awards: [5]
A few years after release, music from A Feather on the Breath of God entered rave culture, when extracts from the album were sampled by electronica groups The Beloved, in their 1989 single "The Sun Rising", [9] [10] and Orbital, in the track "Belfast" on their 1991 EP III . [11]
In 2020, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [12]
All compositions (sequences and hymns) written by Hildegard of Bingen.
Hildegard of Bingen OSB,, also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by a number of scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca and Deutsche Grammophon.
Evelyn Tubb is an English soprano and early music specialist. She is a long-time member of The Consort of Musicke. Born on the Isle of Wight, she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1972 to 1976. Tubb has made many recordings and albums with lutenist/guitarist Michael Fields. She has taught at the Scola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland.
The Consort of Musicke is a British early-music group, founded in 1969 by lutenist Anthony Rooley, the ensemble's Artistic Director. Members of the group have included such well-known artists as sopranos Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb, alto Mary Nichols, tenors Paul Agnew, Andrew King and Joseph Cornwell, and bass Simon Grant.
Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings.
Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75, is a cycle of seven cantatas composed in 1680 by Dieterich Buxtehude and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. More specifically and fully it is, in Buxtehude's phrase, a “devotione decantata,” or “sung devotion,” titled Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima, which translates from the Latin as Limbs Most Holy of Our Suffering Jesus. Regarding genre, the cycle consists in seven concerto-aria cantatas, a form that had emerged in Germany in the 1660s. The stanzas of its main text are drawn from the medieval hymn Salve mundi salutare, also known as the Rhythmica oratio, formerly ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux but now thought to be by Arnulf of Leuven. Each cantata addresses a part of Jesus' crucified body: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face; in each, Biblical words referring to the limb frame verses of the hymn's text.
Ordo Virtutum is an allegorical morality play, or sacred music drama, by Hildegard of Bingen, composed around 1151, during the construction and relocation of her Abbey at Rupertsberg. It is the earliest morality play by more than a century, and the only medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both text and music.
Gothic Voices is a United Kingdom-based vocal ensemble specialising in the performance of music of the Medieval era. The group was originally formed in 1980 by the scholar and musician Christopher Page.
Joshua is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It was composed in a month, from 19 July 1747 to 19 August 1747, six months before the beginning of the oratorio season. Joshua is Handel's fourth oratorio based on a libretto by Thomas Morell. The oratorio premiered on 9 March 1748 at the Covent Garden Theatre, London. Joshua is based on the Biblical story of Joshua as the leader of the ancient Israelites. The story follows the Israelites from their passage over the Jordan River into Caanan and through the Battle of Jericho. The work also includes a love story elaborated from a few hints in the Biblical narrative between Caleb's daughter Achsah and Othniel, a young soldier.
Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label.
Vox Animae is an early music ensemble, founded in 1994 by director and instrumentalist Michael Fields. The group specialises in Medieval music, particularly vocal music, such as sequences, chants and other music with a strong story-line, such as Visitatio sepulchri. They are particularly keen on using drama to enhance the audience experience of the music, and feature staged performances individually crafted to suit each venue.. They are renowned for their presentation of Hildegard of Bingen's Ordo Virtutum.
This is a discography of Hildegard of Bingen's musical works.
Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.
Columba Aspexit is a sequence written by Hildegard of Bingen in the late 12th century. It is one of seven sequences from her collection of lyrical poetry entitled Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum. This piece is found in only one manuscript: HS 2; Hessische Landesbibliotek, Wiesbaden, "Riesenkodex" (1175).
Stevie Wishart is a composer, improviser, and performer on the hurdy-gurdy and violin. Mainly involved in contemporary music, she has also had a career in early music and has edited and recorded the complete works of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, as well as performing music from the repertoire of the medieval troubadours, trouvères and the Cantigas de Santa Maria, with her ensemble Sinfonye.
The Texas Early Music Project is a performing arts ensemble based in Austin, Texas, that focuses on bringing audiences a closer knowledge and appreciation of Baroque music, Medieval music, Renaissance music, and early Classical-period music. The group uses historical instruments in keeping with historically informed performance practice. The ensemble was founded in 1987 by Daniel Johnson, who remains the group's artistic director. The group is classified as a non-profit organization and operates primarily on grant money and donations for individual and corporate supporters. Income is supplemented by ticket sales and merchandise sales. Texas Early Music Project is a member of Early Music America. Performers are primarily professional musicians from the Austin area, although performers visit from Texas at large, from all over the United States, and occasionally internationally.
Pamela Dellal is an American mezzo-soprano in opera and concert, a musicologist and academic teacher. She has performed classical music from the medieval Hildegard von Bingen to contemporary. She is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory, Brandeis University, and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She has made English traslations of all german texts that Johann Sebastian Bach set to music.
Canticles of Ecstasy is an album of sacred vocal music written in the 12th century by the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen and recorded by the early music ensemble Sequentia that was released by the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi recording label in 1993.
Emily Van Evera is an American soprano who specializes in early music and Baroque music in historically informed performance.
Faith of Our Fathers is a compilation album of traditional Catholic/Christian English, Irish, and Latin hymns recorded by Irish artists in 1996.