medieval.org
Erdenklang 90 343
Real Music RM8999
Brunswick 529 590 - 2
1990
Antiphona. DE VIRGINIBUS
1. O pulchrae facies [6:56]
Responsorium. DE APOSTOLIS
2. O lucidissima apostolorum turba [5:41]
Sequentia. DE SANCTO EUCHARIO
3. O euchari [15:37]
Sequentia. DE SANCTA MARIA
4. O virga ac diadema [5:13]
Antiphona. DE CONFESSORIBUS
5. O successores fortissimi leonis [6:22]
Responsorium. DE UNDECIM MILIBUS VIRGINIBUS
6. Spiritui sancto [4:32]
Hymnus. CUM VOX SANGUINIS
7. Cum vox sanguinis [7:33]
VOX
Vladimir Ivanoff
Rose Bihler-Shah — voice
Cornelia Melián — voice
Catherine Rey — voice
Fabio Accurso — medieval flutes, percussion
Giuseppe Paolo Cecere — medieval strings, organistrum, slide trumpet
Alison Gangler — shawms, WX-7 MIDI wind controller
Verena Guido — medieval flutes
Vladimir Ivanoff — portative organ, percussion
Christian Wladimir Schultze — fairlight series III, digital and analog synthesizers, computer programming
and recording at his D.I. Musikstudio
Jochen Scheffter — Recording and mixing at Down Town Studio, Munich (1990)
Christoph von Bartkowski — artwork
Published by Erdenklang Musikverlag
Ⓟ +© 1990 by Erdenklang Musikverlag
Saint
Hildegard von Bingen (born 1098 in Bemersheim/Bergen, near Alzey
(Rhineland Palatinate), died 17th September, 1179 in Rupertsberg near
Bingen) was a mystic and seer, an adviser to popes, emperors and
princes. She wrote numerous theological, scientific and medical works.
Since
childhood she had been haunted by mystic visions, which she recorded in
a series of writings and incorporated in her songs.
With their
expanded tonal range, broadly vibrating melodies, the structure based
upon a few melodic elements, Hildegard's songs form an integrated world
of their own. Her language is marked by brilliant figurativeness, and
has the apocalyptic character of her visionary writings.
The
melisma of the songs exceeds everything to which one is accustomed from
the Gregorian chant: long-drawn out melodic phrases frequently stride
through an entire octave. Hildegard has a particular predilection for
wide intervals, fourths and fifths, which she often uses as the opening
interval, in many cases superimposed upon each other.
In the 13th section of the Scivia, a representation of harmonia caelestis (sphere harmony), she explains her musical activity:
"Deinde
vidi lucidissimum aerum, [...] in quo audivi in omnibus praedictis
significationibus mirabili modo diversum genus musicorum in ludibus
civium supernorum s gaudiorum, in via veritatis fortier perseverantium,
ac in querelis revocatorum ad laudes eorumdem gaudiorum [...] Et sonus
ille ut vox multitudinis in laudibus de supernis gradibus in harmonia
symphonizans, sic dicebat [...]"
"I then saw the brightest light
in which I [...] heard various kinds of music, praising the joy of the
saints, brave and steadfast on the path to truth. [...] And that sound,
like the voice of the praising multitude, in lofty steps combining in
harmony, spoke as follows [...]"
Hildegard uses the term "symphonia"
to describe the heavenly harmony, the inner harmony of manknd, the
harmony of the sounds produced by voices and instruments. The soul of
man is meant to represent symphonia and harmonia within itself.
Hildegard sees man in the wholeness of his nature, of his being, and
therefore transfers to him analogous tonal and musical illusions.
When
Hildegard was on her last journey, the monk Volmar, one of her
secretaries, in a letter written about 1170 laments the absence of the
abbess with the words:
"Ubi tunc vox inauditae melodiae?"
This
question was the reason for the foundation of Vox, a group with
musicians from Germany, Italy and the USA, which examines the
significance for our age of ancient music.
MUSICA INSTRUMENTORUM:
While
present-day man is acquainted with the first two elements, also in
their interaction, our senses can no longer grasp the function of "world
music", the musica mundana. Middle Ages man experienced the meditative
immersion in music always in the consciousness of the fateful
participation of the celestial sphere, his sensitivity was integral - he
heard what he felt, smelt and knew. As we are aware from various
sources which have come down to us, he was often capable of perceiving
with his senses as a shout the wide open mouth of a stone demon statue
above a church door.
"Where is the voice to this unheard melody?"
Playing early music in
a way called authentic performance practice has in recent years been
occupying an ever larger role in our music life, but the quality of the
authenticity is seldom questioned.
Three basic levels of authenticity can be defined:
—
The attempt to reconstruct a concrete performance from times gone by,
if possible in the corresponding spatial setting and with the original
musical instruments. Realisation of this idea faces limitations: neither
the historical musicians nor the historical audiences exist today.
—
The attempt to decipher the musical structure of historical
compositions form the manuscript sources and to convey this to present
day listeners in a perfomance which is "true" to the original.
Differences exist here due to our listening behaviour, which has greatly
changed since the Middle Ages. The same sequence of notes orthe same
sound is perceived by a present-daylistener quite differently from was
the case in the Middle Ages.
— The attempt to convey to the
present-day listener similar impressions to those which Middle Ages
listeners experienced when perceiving a certain word; that is to say,
the perfomance media are adapted to present-day listening behaviour. The
performance of a piece by 7 or 8 musicians left the impression in the
Middle Ages of powerful sonorous concentrations, but is regarded by the
modern listener as chamber music if the formation is not altered.
The
Vox Ensemble's interpretation of Hildegard's songs is a perfomance
with these three levels of authentic presentation of medieval music.
The intensive preoccupation with the writings in which Hildegard's songs have been handed down (Wiesbadener "Riesenkodex", Villarenser Kodex
in Dendermonde) made it possible to develop a vocal style true to the
text, taking into account the specific vocal ornamentation formulae for
Hildegard's music.
The accompaniments, preludes and interludes of
the medieval instruments (flutes, vielle, portative, hurdy-gurdy, frame
drums) accord with the performance customs during Hildegard's time.
The Middle Ages understood music as a whole, comprising three elements:
The harmony of the instruments
MUSICA HUMANA:
The harmony between body and soul, singing
MUSICA MUNDANA:
The harmony of the elements, of the spheres and of the seasons.
Our hearing now is materialistic; we hear
real acoustic events, our consciousness adds to what is heard only few
ideas form other perceptive or sensory sectors. As a result, at least
one element of medieval music - musica mundana - remains for us a closed
book.
This fact was the reason for Vox to go beyond the
boundaries of conventional performance or medieval music, to apply the
means of our day and age, thus making it possible for present-day
listeners to acquire more intensive access to music of the Middle Ages,
to make this music more available to the senses, proceeding further than
the purely exotic attraction..
The inclusion of computer
acoustics, electronic sound spaces, live electronics and digital
alienation possibilities is a symbol of musica mundana; it allows us to
experience the visionary character of Hildegard's music and to interpret
the apocalyptic content of her texts.
With the amalgamation of
text-authentic vocal practice, MiddleAges instruments and the technical
means of our age, we are painting for the present day our picture of the
three-fold entirety of medieval music.
© 1990 Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff