Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum

Schillemat 2

(Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum) (2008Johanna SchillematDr. Daniel PerkinsNovember 25, 2008Music History I)

Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum

This paper will talk about the different aspects of Hildegard von Bingens life and her influence on music in the early 12th century. It will emphasize one of her first works, Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum, explaining the importance of the piece that influenced the development of music during that time. It will explore the usage of text and the certain musical themes involved in the creation of the piece. It will show how her work contributed to the process of new musical ideas.

Hildegard Von Bingen- Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum

I. Introduction

II. Childhood- Early Life

A. Birth of Hildegard

1. Challenges

2. Her Disposition

B. Upbringing

C. Family

III. Cloister- Sanctuary Life

A. Religious Visionary

B. Inspiration as a composer

IV. Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum- (Symphonia)

A. The Poems

1. Religious Significance

2. Text

B. Antiphons

1. Importance of structure with the piece

2. Religious Importance

C. Responds

D. Sequences

E. Hymns

F. Kyrie

G. Alleluia

V. Miscellaneous Other works

A. Similarities from Symphonia

H. Differences from Symphonia

VI. Impact on Society

A. Affects on society

B. Affects on church and authority

VII. Her End

A. Impact for later composers

B. Legency

From the miraculous life that Hildegard von Bingen led brought about a woman full of determination, sacrifice, strife, and innovation. For her time she was considered a woman of divine worth that communicated through God in the form of visions. The basis of her life was to bring her spiritual awakenings to reality and used many different ideas to share her prophecies. From her work, Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum, her visions were able to be captivated into song that helped her religious work press forward. Offered as a tithe to the church at the age of eight, Hildegard became accustomed to life as a nun (Butcher 8). Her service to the church helped her build the foundation for her teachings. She became a role model to society and an advocate for self-expression. Her impact on society formulated for new musical ideas that can be present in music in eras to come. Her work helped pave the way for artists, composers, and writers, of that era. She was a woman of inspiration that brought many people to admire and respect her as a prophetess of her time.

From the time of Hildegards birth to her life as a nun, she led an interesting childhood. Born in Bermershiem, Germany to the parents of Hildebert and Mechthilde, Hildegard was the tenth child in her family (Flanagan 2). Her birth place and date are unknown, but it is believed that she was born in the summer of 1098 (Flanegan 1-2). Her name reflected her demeanor which meant a place of battle coming from her mothers and fathers names. As Hildegard started to grow, her parents noticed many strengthens that she possessed. By the time she was three years of age she started having visions (Butcher 3). Throughout her life and childhood Hildegard always had a fragile disposition. Many of her visions during her childhood were mystical, clairvoyant, or paranormal (Schippers 23). They tended to see hidden things and foretell the future, but never did she lose her consciousness or perception (Newman, 2). Although her visions were not as significant as her later life, her parents noticed her importance to the church.

Hildegards family saw that she had divine worth and decided to put her spirituality to use. It was at the age of eight that Hildegard started her religious life living with a friend of the family, Jutta (Maddocks 18). While she lived with Jutta she learned about the principles of the church and received her education. Her life at this point was considered to be simple and she stayed locked up in an enclosed cell for much of her education (Schipperges 9). Throughout her education she realized that certain things in life should not be taken for granted. Much of her schooling was considered in depth and broad. She would recite the Divine Office and read and re-read Holy Scripture (Schipperes 9-10).

Her siblings became active members to the church and chose to live their lives parallel to their sister. Clementia, was the only known sibling that joined a convent with Hildegard when she became a nun (Maddocks 17). Her eldest brother, Drutwin, played an important role in her life and helped founded her abbey in Rupertsberg (17). Hildegards brother, Roricus, was an active member of the church and became a canon at the Theoley monastery (17).

Throughout Hildegards life she spent little time with her family due to the fact that she was away from them at such a young age (Maddocks 17). With her life in the church she was still able to keep in good contact with siblings and understand the love that she had for them (Maddocks 17). Not much is known about Hildegards other siblings, but her sisters names were Irmingard, Odilia, and Jutta (Schipperges 9). Further recordings about her family seem non-existent, but most of her relatives supported Hildegards decisions with the church.

Hildegard had to experience religion from her studies. Throughout her studies she was able to adapt to cloister life learning about Holy Scripture from her tutor, Jutta. Once Jutta died when Hildegard was 16, she was elected as an abbess and decided to freely choose her monastic profession (Craine 25). Her duties to the church at this point in her life were to act as a spiritual mother and acts accordingly to vows of the sisters of the convent. At this time Hildegard lived in seclusion for 30 years (25). Much of her time she spent living like any other nun, but still receiving many visions of divine quality (25).

Most of her visions went against the church which created Hildegard to feel apprehensive about sharing her spirituality (Craine 25). It was not until Hildegard received a vision from God asking her to write down all of what she saw and heard (Criane 25). Her initial reaction was to ignore the vision and carry on with her life, but she became seriously ill over the requirements of this deed (Craine 25). It was not until she consulted with the Abbott of Clairvaux when she understood the importance of the vision (Schipperges 10-11). He wrote to her giving support to help her find a way to re-evaluate what the vision asked of her. She finally wrote it down and concluded that her visions were divine and was important towards to people of her time (Craine 26). From then on she expressed her visions in-depth to many people including the Pope whom officially sanctioned some her visions and praised her with an honorable reputation (Schipperges 12). This vision was considered the turning point in her life (Schipperges 12).

Her vision helped pave the way for new discoveries and divine work. This vision started the creation of Scivias (Flanagan 4). Scivias was a book of Hildegard visions that focused on knowing the ways of God. This particular work took ten years to complete (Craine 27). While working on this book it helped her find her first abbey which led to the desires to open a convent (Butcher 11). The book helped Hildegard understand the significance of the church in her life. It was not until 1150 when Hildegard took 20 nuns to Rupertsburg to build a new community on the ruins of the Carolingian monastery (Butcher 12). As Hildegard started to build her new communities of worship her work started to press forward. At the age of 43, Hildegard started to cooperate with God and started writing, composing, and dictating music. She started to become an investigator of natural sciences, medicines and herbal remedies (Craine 17).

Hildegard started to understand what her visions meant to the church. Many of her visions played a role in the divinity of humans and reminded people of whom they were as divine spirits (Craine 18). Her visions were described as her soul being taken out of its body and suspended between heaven and earth (Schipperges 12). She described many of her visions as seeing the light of God through her five senses; sense of sight (amat), sense of hearing (descernit), the organs of taste (sapit), those of smell (elight), and those of touch (Schipperges 10). One vision helped her write the book, Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works) (Flanagan 5). Her visions became a foundation for her work. Her visions helped her communicate with people in authority and once she was asked to give prophesy for Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (Butcher 13). She used her works to become a person that was well-respected in her society. From her visions she was able to bring new ideas of music into her daily life. From her major work Symphonia much of her poetry was captivated into song.

The major work, Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum, was the collection of seventy liturgical songs (Maddocks 282-283) which included 43 antiphons, 18 responds, 7 sequences, 4 hymns, A Kyrie, An Alleluia, and 3 miscellaneous works (Butcher 24). This collection of works focused on much Hildegards work as a writer. All of the songs were her poems set to music (Maddocks 282). Barbara Newman explains Hildegards poetry created the foundation for Symphonia (62). Much of the poetry was in the form of metaphors and was considered to have a double meaning (62). It captivated the importance of divine beings such as the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit, Saints and Angels (56). Much of the text was hard to understand because of it complexity (63). This poem was a sequence for the Holy Spirit:

Figure 1 (Newman)

The poem describes the Holy Spirit as this real and holy being. Each stanza talks of the goodness the Holy Spirit provides for human kind. In the second stanza it talks of the Holiness it provides to people such as healing, cleansing, and assurance of its existence. The fifth stanza talks about the how the Holy Spirit can save those who deserve his glory and protecting those who need his help. It provides the hope to achieve heavenly glory through the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. Hildegard mentions the bind and gather all people together she talks about the Holy Spirit as one who binds our souls to each other. Much of her poetry for Symphonia expresses the importance of these divine beings as a reiteration of their supremacy.

Although much of Hildegards work was poetry she included antiphons into Symphonia as intricate novel songs (Newman 74). These particular songs tended to be more complex (Maddocks 282). Many of these songs were full of many musical elements such as contrast, unity, resemblance, dynamic tension, and response (Newman 76). This made her musical work sound different to the normal music of that time. Her music grasped musical compounds and rarely did you see much text with the music (75). Hildegard provided new concepts of melody as a movement of the voice (75). In her antiphon, O Successores from Symphonia she showed a lot of structural control as seen on the next page:

Figure 2 (Newman)

Barbara Newman talks about the complexities of Hildegards music throughout that 12th century. Throughout the piece Hildegard explores and defines the overall sound space of an octave (An A on the staff to an A below the staff) (Newman 76). Much of the music in each line concludes to a D below the staff showing the drive towards the tonic (76). Each phrase shows an over-all vertical expansion showing musical definition (77). The second and third lines the piece shows a sequence (78). The piece shows a lot of melodic flexibility by captivating the melody by adding or ignoring certain pitches (79). Much of Hildegards compositional style was linked to the text (79). This particular text focuses on the structure of the piece and presents a strong idea of how the piece is to be sung (80).

The music tries to portray a story by adding a climax in the middle of the piece. The fifth line shows a different approach to the melodic line that creates a more interesting texture. This particular line presents a new tonal plane (Newman 80). The piece wants to move towards a certain climax to create an interesting melodic line (78). The music showed many text-music interaction that conveyed neumatic and melismatic passages. On the last line the word agni is a drawn out melisma showing musical closure (80). This helps the song have a strong and more convincing ending. Many of Hildegards antiphons were pre-thought text before the music was created (80). Although there are many other antiphons within Hildegards Symphonia much of it is hard to analyze. Each of Hildegards antiphons was unique in many different ways, but each showed a drive towards to the climax. It is interesting to understand that a woman of that century could have a profound impact on the development of music during that time (94).

Much of Symphonia have been analyzed, but very little information was provided for her responds, sequences, hymns, the Kyrie, Alleluia and the other miscellaneous works. It was said that her responsories were for feasts celebrating the Virgin Marys glory, and the songs were tended for special events of monastic life (Maddocks 194). Her sequences were said to have melodic phrases that were paired showing the intricacies of Hildegards work (Maddocks 194). Her hymns were in a strophic form, which brought much of her music to repeat existing musical material (Maddocks 194). Symphonia was a work that provided a lot of in-depth musical ideas. The work presented many new concepts to text. Much can be said about the text in correlation to the music. Hildegard used her ideas for music to bring about many other works in her life.

Ordo Virtutum was other piece of Hildegards that provided the same profound messages as seen in conjunction to Symphonia. The work translates to the Play of Virtues which was a play of the Devil showing the journey of the soul and the temptations one might find on their journey throughout life. This work was thought to be less complex and showed less musical intensity. Both works included a large amount of songs that were mostly in the form of antiphons (Maddocks 194). The songs were composed for the Divine Office in relation to the church (Newman 150). Both works showed the meaning behind the text that helped captivated a message. Her compositions showed a sense of freedom towards the music that helped the text show greater meaning (Maddocks 198). It was said that most of Hildegards music was sung by the nuns in her monastery (Maddocks 199). Each work became a part of the lives of many whom followed her. Both works showed a freedom of her ideas that went against the norm of music during that time.

Even though each piece showed many similarities both of her compositions were significantly different. Much of Symphonia showed a stronger intent of new musical ideas verses Ordo Virtutum which showed more textual intent. The forms of both pieces showed differences displaying one in the form of a play and other in the form of poetry. The religious purposes of Symphonia seemed to be presented for many different occasions (Maddocks 194). Ordo Virtutum was presented for a certain audiences to provide them with spiritual enlightenment. Each piece played an important part in the daily life of Hildegards society that impact many different people.

Hildegard was not just a person of divine worth, but became an advocate for self-expression. Much of Hildegards music was different and affected society (Butcher 25). Her music helped provided a reality of the problems that were happening during that time. Many of her compositions were metaphors brought to reality (27). Her text was not normal to everyday church life even though it provided spiritual meaning (25). Her works reflect her visions that she has had in her life, most of these visions help her become a women that was well-respected in society.

In her dealings with many people Hildegard was able to meet many important people. Some of these people included popes, queens, emperors, abbesses, abbots, monks, and nuns. Frequently Hildegard wrote to the Emperor of Germany discussing her religious ideas (Craine 29). Much of the relationship with Emperor was to challenge his ideas, but never was she punished for her questioning his authority (29). All of these people respected Hildegard as a women of religious importance (29). Although her works were thought to be different most people accepted her new ideas. Much of Hildegards life was not only in correspondence to Germany, but also England, France, Italy, and Greece (29). Her music and work was influenced by many people all over Europe. She did not let her music detract from other important traditions of the church. Many times she would talk to other bishops and archbishops about their theological ideas (29). From her knowledge of scripture this helped Hildegard have the right to speak with authority and be able to express herself (33). Throughout Germany she was considered to be called the German Prophetess (32). Throughout society she was considered a woman revered as important element to the church. Her life helped society bring other self-discoveries into perspective. She was not only thought of as important but essential towards the development of society.

Hildegard created an importance impact on society and the development of music and text during her lifetime. She was an important part of the church and continued to shine light on eras to come. Although her later life was considered to be drastically difficult she still fought for what she believed in (Craine 31). Much of her work flourished and her religious ideas were applauded that helped her life bring about greater meaning (31). Much of her work was different to other composers of that time that brought new life to music. Hildegard ended her life at miraculous age of 81 on the day of September 17, 1179 (31). Her life helped pave the way for other composers in decades to come. Her work helped bring new musical ideas to the people that she association with and influenced the development of music during that time. Her piece, Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum, helped show the new ideas for musical text and structural musical changes that where rare during that time. Much of her life helped bring about change that showed many people how important she was. Her life influenced expression and innovation that helped people respect her as a woman of integrity.

Hildegard continued to have visions until she died, and each vision provided new insight for her work (Schipperges 13). Much of her work focused on music and became the foundation for a lot of her spiritual guidance. She believed that music was a necessity for salvation (Butcher 11). She believed that the music she wrote provided people with a divine purpose to life. Her major work, Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum , captures that divinity of her musical enlightenment.

Works Cited

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Craine, R. Hildegard Prophet of the Cosmic Christ. New York: The Crossroad, 1997.

Flanagan, S. Hildegard of Bingen. London: Routledge, 1998.

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2001.

Newman, B. Saint Hildegard of Bingen: Symphonia. Ithaca: Cornell University, 1988.

Newman, B. Voice of the Living Light Hildegard of Bingen and Her World. Los Angeles:

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Schipperges, H. Hildegard of Bingen Healing and The Nature of the Cosmos. Princeton:

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