The German Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen is among the most important medieval composers. She is the earliest known woman composer in Western classical music, and an important exponent of sacred music during the High Middle Ages.
The German Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen is among the most important medieval composers. She is the earliest known woman composer in Western classical music, and an important exponent of sacred music during the High Middle Ages.
All works are vocal, monophonic and with Latin text
| Work Title | Genre | Feast | B-DEa MS 9 | D-WIl Hs. 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Folios | No. | Folios | |||
| O vis eternitatis | Responsory | — | — | — | R 1 | 466 |
| O magne Pater | Antiphon | — | D 1 | 153r | R 2 | 466 |
| O eterne Deus | Antiphon | — | D 2 | 153r | R 3 | 466 |
| O virtus Sapientie | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 4 | 466 |
| O quam mirabilis | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 5 | 466–466ª |
| O pastor animarum | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 6 | 466ª |
| O cruor sanguinis | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 7 | 466ª |
| Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita | Antiphon | — | D 15 | 157r | R 8 | 466ª |
| Karitas habundat | Antiphon | — | D 16 | 157r | R 9 | 466ª |
| O splendidissima gemma | Antiphon | — | D 5 | 154r–v | R 10 | 466ª |
| O tu illustrata | Antiphon (with verse) | — | — | — | R 11 | 466ª–467 |
| Hodie nunc aperuit nobis | Antiphon | — | D 6 | 154v | R 12 | 467 |
| Quia ergo femina | Antiphon | — | D 7 | 154v | R 13 | 467 |
| Cum processit | Antiphon | — | D 8 | 154v | R 14 | 467 |
| Cum erubuerint | Antiphon | — | D 9 | 155r | R 15 | 467 |
| O quam magnum miraculum | Antiphon | — | D 11 | 155r–v | R 16 | 467–467ª |
| Ave Maria O auctrix | Responsory | — | D 3 | 153r–v | R 17 | 467ª |
| O clarissima mater | Responsory | — | D 4 | 153v–154r | R 18 | 467ª–468 |
| O tu suavissima | Responsory | — | D 14 | 156v | R 19 | 468 |
| O quam preciosa | Responsory | — | — | — | R 20 | 468 |
| O gloriosissimi lux vivens angeli | Antiphon | — | D 20 | 159r | R 21 | 468–468ª |
| O vos angeli | Responsory | Angels | D 21 | 159r–v | R 22 | 468ª |
| O spectabiles viri | Antiphon | Prophets, patron saints | D 22 | 159v–160r | R 23 | 468ª–469 |
| O vos felices radices | Antiphon | Patron saints, prophets | D 23 | 160r–v | R 24 | 469 |
| O cohors milite floris | Antiphon | Apostles | D 24 | 160v–161r | R 25 | 469–469ª |
| O lucidissima apostolorum | Responsory | Apostles | D 25 | 161r–v | R 26 | 469ª |
| O speculum columbe | Antiphon | St John the Evangelist | D 26 | 161v | R 27 | 469ª |
| O dulcis electe | Responsory | St John the Evangelist | D 27 | 161v–162r | R 28 | 469ª–470 |
| O victoriosissimi | Antiphon | Martyrs | D 31 | 163r–v | R 29 | 470 |
| Vos flores rosarum | Responsory | Martyrs | D 32 | 163v | R 30 | 470 |
| O vos imitatores excelse | Responsory | Confessors | D 33 | 163v–164r | R 31 | 470 |
| O successores fortissimi | Antiphon | Confessors | D 34 | 164r | R 32 | 470ª |
| O mirum admirandum | Antiphon | St Disibod | D 28 | 162r | R 33 | 470ª |
| O viriditas digiti Dei | Responsory | St Disibod | D 29 | 162r–v | R 34 | 470ª |
| O felix anima | Responsory | St Disibod | — | — | R 35 | 470ª |
| O beata infantia | Antiphon | St Disibod | — | — | R 36 | 470ª–471 |
| O felix aparitio | Antiphon | St Rupert | D 35 | 164v | R 37 | 471 |
| O beatissime Ruperte | Antiphon | St Rupert | D 36 | 164v | R 38 | 471 |
| Quia felix pueritia | Antiphon | St Rupert | — | — | R 39 | 471 |
| O pulcre facies Deum | Antiphon | — | D 38 | 165r | R 40 | 471 |
| O nobilissima viriditas | Responsory | Virgins | D 39 | 165r–v | R 41 | 471–471ª |
| Spriritui sancto | Responsory | — | D 45 | 167r | R 42 | 471ª |
| Favus distillans | Responsory | — | D 43 | 167v | R 43 | 471ª |
| O rubor sanguinis | Gospel antiphon | — | D 44 | 167v | R 44 | 471ª |
| Studium divinitatis | Laudes antiphon | — | D 46 | 167v | R 45 | 471ª–472 |
| Unde quocumque | Antiphon | — | D 47 | 167v | R 46 | 472 |
| De patria etiam earum | Antiphon | — | D 48 | 168r | R 47 | 472 |
| Deus enim in prima | Antiphon | — | D 49 | 168r | R 48 | 472 |
| Aer enim volat | Antiphon | — | D 50 | 168r | R 49 | 472 |
| Et ideo puelle iste | Gospel antiphon | — | D 51 | 168r | R 50 | 472 |
| Deus enim rorem | Antiphon | — | D 52 | 168r | R 51 | 472 |
| Sed diabolus | Antiphon | — | D 53 | 168r–v | R 52 | 472 |
| Rex noster promptus est | Responsory | Holy Innocents | D 42 | 166v–167r | R 53 | 472 |
| O virgo Ecclesia | Antiphon | — | D 56 | 170r | R 54 | 472–472ª |
| Nunc gaudeant materna | Antiphon | Church dedication | D 57 | 170r–v | R 55 | 472ª |
| O orzchis ecclesia | Antiphon | Church dedication | — | — | R 56 | 472ª |
| O coruscans lux stellarum | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 57 | 472ª |
| Kyrie eleison | Kyrie | — | — | — | R 58 | 472ª |
| O ignis Spiritus Paraclitus | Sequence | — | D 19 | 158r–v | R 59 | 473 |
| O ignee Spiritus | Hymn | — | D 18 | 157v–158r | R 60 | 473–473ª |
| Alleluia, O virga mediatrix | Allelui | — | — | — | R 61 | 473ª |
| O virga ac diadema | Sequence | — | D 13 | 156r | R 62 | 473ª–474 |
| O viridissima virga | Antiphon | — | — | — | R 63 | 474–474ª |
| Ave generosa | Hymn | — | D 12 | 155v | R 64 | 474ª |
| Mathias sanctus | Hymn | — | — | — | R 65 | 474ª–475 |
| O Bonifaci lux vivens | Antiphon | St Boniface | — | — | R 66 | 475–475ª |
| O presul vere civitatis | Sequence | St Disibod | D 30 | 162v–163r | R 67 | 475ª |
| O Euchari columba | Responsory | St Eucharius | — | — | R 68 | 475ª–476 |
| O Euchari in leta via | Sequence | St Eucharius | — | — | R 69 | 476 |
| Columba aspexit | Sequence | St Maximinus | — | — | R 70 | 476–476ª |
| O Jerusalem aurea civitas | Sequence | St Rupert | D 37 | 164v | R 71 | 476ª–477 |
| O ecclesia oculi tui | Sequence | — | D 54 | 168v–169r | R 72 | 477–477ª |
| Cum vox sanguinis | Hymn | — | D 55 | 169r–170r | R 73 | 477ª–478 |
| O dulcissime amator | Symphonia | Virgins | D 40 | 165v–166r | R 74 | 478–478ª |
| O Pater omnium | Symphonia | Widows | D 41 | 166r–v | R 75 | 478ª |
| Ordo virtutum | Liturgical drama | — | — | — | — | 478ª–481ª |
| O frondens virga | Antiphon | — | D 10 | 155r | — | — |
| Laus Trinitati | Antiphon | — | D 17 | 157r | — | — |
Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical music.
Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard and 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.
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts.
Mauricio Raúl Kagel was an Argentine-German composer and academic teacher.
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
John Dunstaple was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the Contenance angloise style, Dunstaple was the leading English composer of his time, and is often coupled with William Byrd and Henry Purcell as England's most important early music composers. His style would have an immense influence on the subsequent music of continental Europe, inspiring composers such as Du Fay, Binchois, Ockeghem and Busnois.
Jehan de Lescurel was a composer-poet of late medieval music. Jehan's extensive surviving oeuvre is an important and rare examples of the formes fixes before the time of Guillaume de Machaut; it consists of 34 works: 20 ballades, 12 rondeaus and two long narrative poems, diz entés. All but one of his compositions is monophonic, representing the end of the trouvère tradition and the beginning of the polyphonic ars nova style centered around the formes fixes.
Viriditas is a word meaning vitality, fecundity, lushness, verdure, or growth. It is particularly associated with abbess Hildegard von Bingen, who used it to refer to or symbolize spiritual and physical health, often as a reflection of the Divine Word or as an aspect of the divine nature.
The Wiesbaden Codex, Hs.2 of the Hessische Landesbibliothek, Wiesbaden, is a codex containing the collected works of Hildegard of Bingen. It is a giant codex, weighing 15 kg and 30 by 45 cm in size. It dates from c. 1200, and was started at the end of her life or just after her death, at the instigation of Guibert of Gembloux, her final secretary. The only segment of her work missing from the codex are her medical writings, which may never have existed in a finished format.
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.
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" can also be applied to non-Western art musics. Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophisticated notational system, as well as accompanying literature in analytical, critical, historiographical, musicological and philosophical practices. A foundational component of Western culture, classical music is frequently seen from the perspective of individual or groups of composers, whose compositions, personalities and beliefs have fundamentally shaped its history.
Saint Bertha of Bingen was the mother of Rupert of Bingen. Her biography was written, and subsequently her cult popularized, by Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the same region, about four hundred years later. Bertha and Rupert share a feast day on 15 May.
Scivias is an illustrated work by Hildegard von Bingen, completed in 1151 or 1152, describing 26 religious visions she experienced. It is the first of three works that she wrote describing her visions, the others being Liber vitae meritorum and De operatione Dei. The title comes from the Latin phrase Sci vias Domini. The book is illustrated by 35 miniature illustrations, more than that are included in her two later books of visions.
This is a bibliography of Hildegard of Bingen's works.
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).
Barbara Jane Newman is an American medievalist, literary critic, religious historian, and author. She is Professor of English and Religion, and John Evans Professor of Latin, at Northwestern University. Newman was elected in 2017 to the American Philosophical Society.
Barbara Stühlmeyer OblOSB is a German theologian, musicologist, author, especially a Hildegard scholar and a science journalism.
The Dendermonde Codex or sometimes called Villarenser Kodex or codex 9 of Dendermonde Abbey, is a valuable manuscript containing the Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum of Hildegard of Bingen.
Fiona Maddocks is a British music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "one of the UK's leading writers and commentators on classical music", Maddocks has been chief music critic of The Observer since 2010. She held a central role in founding three media companies: BBC Music Magazine, Channel 4 and The Independent.
