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Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG 05472 77378 2 · 2 CDs
1998
medieval.org
sequentia.org
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG 05472 77378 2 · 2 CDs
1998
CD 1
an Gottvater
1. O magne pater [3:12]
Antiphon · Thornton
an den hl. Bonifatius
2. O Bonifaci [2:54]
Antiphon · Männervokalensemble
an den hl. Disibodus
3. O mirum admirandum — Domine est terra [7:59]
Antiphon — Psalmus
McSweeney, Männervokalensemble
4. Instrumentalstück [7:34]
Fideln
5. O viriditas digiti Dei [5:56]
Responsorium
Thornton, Frauenensemble, Fideln, Organistrum
6. O beata infantia — Domine, Dominus noster [6:02]
Antiphon — Psalmus
Mentzel, Grant, Guttry, MsSweeney, Männervokalensemble
7. O felix anima [6:40]
Responsorium · Männervokalensemble
8. Instrumentalstücke [6:37]
Fideln
9. O presul vere civitatis [8:47]
Sequenz
Dellal, Knutson, Hargis, Mayer, Youngdahl, Frauenvokalensemble, Fideln
CD 2
an den hl. Maximinus
1. Columba aspexit [6:34]
Sequenz · Männervokalensemble
2. Instrumentalstücke [5:29]
Fideln, Harfe
an die hl. Ursula
3. O Eclesia [7:49]
Sequenz · Thornton, Frauenvokalensemble
4. Spiritui Sancto [5:56]
Responsorium · Mayer, Frauenvokalensemble, Fidel (Gaver)
an den hl. Mathias
5. Mathias, sanctus per electionem [6:41]
Sequenz · Männervokalensemble
an die heiligen Witwen
6. O pater omnium [Symphonia viduarum] [4:38]
Knutson, Frauenvokalensemble
an den hl. Eucharius
7. O Euchari, columba virtutem illius [6:13]
Responsorium · Grant, Guttry, Männervokalensemble
8. O Euchari, in leta via ambulasti [7:00]
Sequenz · Männervokalensemble, Organistrum
SEQUENTIA, Ensemble für Musik des Mittelalters
Barbara Thornton & Benjamin Bagby
• Vox feminae
Barbara Thornton
Barbara Thornton, Pamela Dellal, Suzanne Ehly, Ellen Hargis,
Lydia Heather Knuthson, Nancy Mayer, Caitriona O'Leary, Janet Youngdahl
• Sons of Thunder
Benjamin Bagby
Benjamin Bagby, John Fleagle, Stephen Grant, Paul Guttry, William Hite,
Frank Kelley, Eric Mentzel, Marc McSweeney
• Instrumentalensemble
Elizabeth Gaver
Elizabeth Gaver, Rachel Evans, Robert Mealy, Mittelalterliche Fideln
Benjamin Bagby, Mittelalterliche Harfe
Barbara Thornton
Saints Barbara Stühlmeyer
Sources: Music
All performing editions based on: Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, MS 2 ("Riesenkodex").
With thanks to Dr. Wolfgang Podehl and the staff of then Mitarbeitern
der Hessischen Landesbibliothek.
The performing editions of the Symphoniae were prepared by Barbara
Thornton (women) and Benjamin Bagby (men), based on the original
manuscript.
Assistance with the edition of Nr. 3 (CD 1), as well as Psalm texts and
tones provided by Barbara Stühlmeyer (Hof an der Saale).
The instrumental music was conceived and arranged by Elizabeth Gaver.
Sources: Texts
All text editions and English translations by Peter Dronke (Cambridge),
copyright 1998. Psalm texts from Vulgate Bible (Latin) and New
Jerusalem Bible (translations).
Instruments:
5-string fddle (Gayer) by Richard Earle (Basel, 1988)
3-string fiddle (Gayer) by Richard Earle (Basel, 1995)
5-string fiddle (Evans) by Rainer Ullreich (Wien, 1991)
5-string fiddle (Mealy) by Karl Dennis (Rhode Island USA, 1993)
Organistrum by Alan Crumpler (Leominster, GB, 1982)
Harp by Geoff Ralph (London 1982)
© 1998 BMG Entertainment
A & R direction: Nicola Kremer
Recorded in the church of the Campion Center, Weston MA (USA), 11-18
June, 1996.
Produced by: Elizabeth Ostrow
Executive producer: Jon Aaron
Production assistant (USA): Lottie Labys
Produclion assistant (Germany): Joachim Kuehn
Sound engineer: John Newton (soundmirror, Boston MA, USA)
Editor: Jeff Baust
Front cover: Hildegard von Bingen: Scivias
Tafel 35/Schau III 13 "Die Chöre der Seligen",
Abtei St. Hildegard, Eibingen
Cover design: BMG Ariola/A. Döhring
Text editor: Dr. Jens Markowsky
All rights reserved
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen's spiritual compositions represent a pinnacle of
individual creation in an distinguished age of art and thought. The
twelfth century is widely referred to as having witnessed a
"Renaissance" in the sense of a full cultural flowering, and this
reputation is largely due to the exceptional intellectual vigor,
philosophical depth, and aesthetic brilliance of the monastic arts of
the time. The manner in which theological renewal, economic well-being,
and far-reaching social innovations came together to support monastic
life accounts in part for the phenomenal musical and literary output of
Hildegard von Bingen and some of her contemporaries. Already as an
adolescent, she lived the cloistered life according to Benedictine Rule
(see the accompanying essay by Barbara Stühlmeyer), first in the
double (male and female) monastery called Disibodenberg, west of the
Rhine, and then, at the height of her powers, as the leader of her own
community at Rupertsberg on the Rhine near Bingen. As abbess of
Rupertsberg, Hildegard's authority, fame, and creative power increased
significantly. Between 1151 and 1158 she was writing and collecting her
musical compositions intended to be sung by the sisters at the convent
at liturgical and other functions. She called them symphoniae
harmoniae celestium revelationum, a title meant to indicate their
divine inspiration as well as the idea that music is the highest form
of human activity, mirroring as it does the ineffable sounds of
heavenly spheres and angel choirs. It was also during this time that
she carried out an extensive correspondence with important
personalities in ecclesiastical and temporal circles, as well as
turning her energies to compiling encyclopedic works on natural science
and the healing arts. In her own time, as in ours, the "Sibyl of the
Rhine" amazes those with the ears to hear her. "It is said that you are
raised to Heaven, that much is revealed to you, and that you bring
forth great writings, and discover new manners of song..." wrote Master
Odo of Paris in 1148. Then, as now, she is admired for fearlessly
exploring the cosmos with her vision, for creating a moving feminine
theology which nonetheless remains in awe of both the masculine and
feminine divine powers. Her ability to function in the real, political
world is as impressive as her complete dedication to the life of the
soul, and to nurturing it among her cloistered sisters.
Hildegard to Kuno, abbot of Disibodenberg:
"O man, why do you sleep at the sound of the taste of good works
which sound like a symphony before God? And why do you not deny wanton
exuberance by examining the mansion of your heart? ... And why do you
not fear to destroy him whom you have not created? You do not anoint
him, for you neither shield nor shelter him, but all too severely
reprimand him ...". (Epistola 74R).
Hard words form the basis of the gift of vocal pieces in honour of St
Disibod which Hildegard despatched to her former abbot. She obviously
held him to be a person who himself needed to follow his patron saint's
good example. There are reasons why she worded her missive so directly.
The story of her life makes them clear.
"When Heinrich IV ruled the Holy Roman Empire, there lived in
Rhenish Franconia a virgin, high-born by virtue of the nobility of her
lineage and her holiness alike, named Hildegard. Her father was called
Hildebert, her mother Mechthild. Although involved in the cares of the
world and richly blessed with material possessions, they were yet not
ungrateful for the gifts their Creator had bestowed upon them and
dedicated their daughter to the service of God". (The life of St
Hildegard of Bingen, First Book, First Chapter).
From a very young age Hildegard was integrated into a social network
rich in connections. She was related to many of the great people of the
realm. She did not know fear. Therein lay the roots of her inner
freedom, with which she would later rebuke Emperor Friedrich
Barbarossa. Hildebert, her father, was connected with the Count of
Spanheim, and so Hildegard came to Jutta of Spanheim, at a time when it
was normal to be removed from parental care at the age of eight. Jutta
was at that time fourteen - she became mother, friend and confidante to
Hildegard. They conducted many conversations of which we have no
knowledge. And they both studied at the castle of Spanheim. For a
number of years Uda of Göllheim was the woman who taught them
everything that was regarded as worth knowing. Uda was a widow - a
status esteemed almost as highly as that of a virgin.
"Virgins are wedded in the holy spirit of piety and in the dawn of
virginity. ... Therefore, for the sake of freedom and the revelation
residing in the mystical breath of the finger of God, it behoves a
virgin to don a robe of radiant white, as a clear token of her marriage
to Christ". (Epistola 52R, Hildegard to Tengswich of Andernach) - "O
viriditas digiti Dei".
Devotion, commitment and the utmost freedom characterized the life that
Jutta and Hildegard led: freedom and boldness of action. Jutta's father
Stefan was long dead. Jutta was strong. Against the will of her family
she had herself dedicated as a virgin by bishop Ruthard of Mainz. Even
as a child she had been instructed "in the holy sciences". Uda of
Göllheim was not only a teacher but also a spiritual companion for
the fourteen-year-old - and also for Hildegard, who was seeking a way
to deal with what she "heard and saw". Another girl joined them, and
she was also called Jutta. They conceived a bold plan. The three of
them would embark on a pilgrimage - Peregrinatio, the lot of a pilgrim.
"Where am I a foreigner? In the shadow of death. And which way do I
take? The way of error. And what consolation do I have? That which
pilgrims to foreign lands have. I should have a tabernacle, adorned
with five cut stones which shine brighter than the sun and stars".
(Scivias I, 4).
Meinhard, Jutta's brother, was appalled. Then Jutta's mother Sophie
died. Meinhard offered his sister and the two girls Hildegard and Jutta
a "substitute" for pilgrimage: confinement in a convent. The idea was a
clever move. The place was Disibodenberg. There shines
"the splendour of the angels. A topaz should be (the) foundation (of
the tabernacle) and its walls be all precious stones, its stairs being
inlaid with crystal and its ways paved with gold".
(Scivias I, 4).
Disibod himself had been a pilgrim and foreigner, having been exiled
with his parents as a child. After becoming a priest and finally a
bishop, he set out once again, forsook everything he knew and went to a
foreign country.
"After leaving Ireland and roaming many regions and diligently
studying many places, seeking rest for his soul he at last arrived in
Germany, where he encountered a hard and wild people, and there he
became tired and checked his stride a while, so as to be able to offer
this same people words of salvation and examples of holiness. Many
heard him and loved him, but many did not care either to listen to him
or to love him. And when he had come to sojourn in this province, and
considered whither he might turn, he heard good and sweet news of the
union with God of the blessed Benedict, who had lately wandered through
the world and who, through his union with God, had forsaken many who
dearly loved him and so through the admonition of the Holy Spirit came
to recognize that his yearning, that which he had long yearned for
because he had once united himself with the people, could not yet be
fulfilled until he had gathered men of true and perfect union with God
around himself. For that was the reason why he kept going from place to
place and found neither in these places, nor in the customs of their
peoples, that which his soul craved".
(Vita Disibodi).
He was slipse with whom the three young women could identify; he was
their travelling-companion, and the place around which his activities
centred provided them with a point of orientation in their lives.
Hildegard later wrote down his biography - at the request of Abbot
Helenger, who wrote to her:
"Truly now, Mother, the spiritual wine of the Lord's wedding has
quite run out for me". (Epistolae, 76).
Like Jutta and Hildegard, he had been confronted even as a child with
the feeling of being different from others, of being unable to
communicate with those around him. Hildegard and Jutta's independent
design for living was therefore able to take root at Disibodenberg.
They lived there for many long years and it was here that Hildegard
found Volmar, who was to become her secretary and friend. When writing
about him she refers to herself in the third person.
"And one found someone and loved him, having perceived him to be a
reliable person and like to oneself in performing the tasks related to
me". (Scivias, preface).
When Jutta died, Hildegard succeeded her in the office of magistra, or
head of the convent that the community of women had now grown to be.
Yet she still came to make a pilgrimage. After Hildegard had started
writing down her visions and after she had been declared a prophetess,
first by Bernhard of Clairvaux and then by the Pope and the synod of
Trier, she could not stay at Disibodenberg. Was she not like Ursula and
her virgins, who had undertaken a pilgrimage to Rome and to the Pope
and who had been honourably received there? In Spiritui Sancto
Hildegard in a way presents a picture of her community of sisters,
using the story of Ursula and her companions. They founded their
community on the basis of their common reaching out in longing for the
embrace of the Lamb. Herein they endeavoured to stand firm in the power
of God, which forms the central focus of Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum,
the contemptus mundi, the going beyond, the transcendence of the world.
This attitude enabled the nuns to be like a mountain, which in the
traditional language of symbols is the place to meet God. After having
overcome many obstacles, Hildegard and her sisters moved to
Rupertsberg. It was situated most favourably at the junction of several
trading routes; the sisters' aura could thus radiate unhampered from
this point. Yet there was more. Rupert had also undertaken a pilgrimage
and so given his life new direction. If her relatives and friends were
her mortal fellow wayfarers, the saints were the vital unseen figures
in her life, the "companions of the angels". Hildegard herself found
guidance and counsel during her life, and she passed this on to her
fellow sisters. They were, like Hildegard herself, of noble birth,
integrated into multifarious social connections and subject to the
temptations of power. Hildegard speaks to them in the biography of
Rupert:
"And whereas he had great influence in the throng of the worldly by
virtue of his great riches and his family, through which he felt
himself drawn to the material world: nonetheless, he began to consider
the manner in which the blessed Alexius, in the role of a pilgrim, had
taken leave of father and mother, of his house and the riches of the
world. And he chose to imitate this saint in every way so that he might
more freely serve God in solitude. When his mother sensed these signs
in him, although he hid it from her, she said to him in tears: "Be
mindful of the pain in your mother's limbs; hearken to the sigh of your
widowed mother and look to your family, that trusts in you alone; and
take care that you do not cause us unreasonable pain: for with our
means you may help the poor and needy and all those who require
assistance in any way you please. And what would be better for you and
more useful than to serve God so?". (Vita Ruperti).
Hildegard wrote the vocal pieces in honour of Disibod and Rupert
primarily for her convent and for the Benedictine brothers at
Disibodenberg. This also applies to the antiphon in honour of Boniface.
He is the "friend of the living God, the shining light" that, "in
his good will, points in the right directions". (antiphon O
Bonifaci). Boniface was closely associated with Disibod - a holy
friendship down through the ages. As bishop responsible for Mainz, he
journeyed to Disibodenberg and raised up the remains of Disibod to
honour the altars. Boniface was a person who applied himself with
immense determination and admirable energy to his life's work - the
spreading of the faith. Like Disibod, he forsook his home (England),
where he would have been able to lead a secure life among educated
Christians, and motivated numerous men and women from his native land
to work together with him. His example gave Hildegard and her nuns the
courage to make a completely new start at Rupertsberg -
"rich, aristocratic women" who "descended from a place where
they lacked nothing, into such poverty". (Hildegard's
autobiography).
The vocal pieces for Eucharius, Maximin and Matthew were intended for
the Benedictine convent in Trier, which is closely associated with
these saints. Hildegard had extraordinarily close contact with the
monks of this monastery. She was, as is clear from her correspondence,
a kind of spiritual companion for the monks. They read her works and
sought her counsel time and again on critical issues. She also visited
the monastery on one of her journeys. Since these compositions were
intended for the monks' liturgy, it is only logical that these works be
performed by men. According to legend, Eucharius was a pupil of the
apostle Peter. He became the first bishop of the city of Trier and,
following his death in Poitiers, his remains were returned there.
Through his love,
"shining like the light of dawn", he has "built the
foundation of the church". "Through your teachings the church
becomes potent in its rationality". ("O Euchari" sequence).
Matthew is particularly associated with Trier because his grave is in
that city. For the old church Trier thus became one of the important
diocesan towns - which were always connected with the grave of an
apostle. Matthew, "holy through being among God's chosen",
embodies for Hildegard the idea of compensatory representation. He was
elected to replace the betrayer Judas Iscariot in the apostolic
brotherhood through the drawing of lots. Hildegard was confident that,
for their part, all people are called upon to form the choir of the
heavenly host, which was originally constituted by Lucifer and his
angels and which fell into the realm of darkness when they turned away
from God.
"In you the Holy Ghost sings and plays, for you have joined the
choirs of angels. ... You are a companion to the angels". ("O
Jerusalem" sequence).
Maximin is one of St Eucharius's successors. He is also buried in the
abbey named for the three important saints of Trier. He is the radiant
saint, whose aura is like a balm, and "lights up in the darkness
like a sparkling gem".
Translation: J & M Berridge
