The Life Of Hildegard Von Bingen

Isaiah

Dr. Brauner

Music History 211

Flanangan, Sabina . Hildegard of Bingen, A Visionary Life. New York: Routlege, 1989.

This book mainly focuses on the life of Hildegard as a spiritualist and a healer, as do most books that were written about her. It begins by outlining the basic events of her life and death; her illness as a child, her education at a convent by a woman named Jutta, and the visions she saw from an early age. She regarded these visions as gifts from God but was reluctant to share them with the world until one critical dream. “And it came to pass…when I was forty-two years and seven months old that the heavens were opened up and a blinding light… flowed through my entire brain… and I suddenly understood the meanings of the expositions of the booksвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (Ch. 1, 4) This is how she describes her instantaneous understanding of the books of the bible, and is compelled to begin to write all of her visions down for the remainder of her lifetime. The book goes on to describe her daily life as the leader of a growing community of nuns, which she moved from her home town to the are of Bingen. It goes into detail of her writings on dietary needs of people of all types, spiritual needs of everyday people and then her role as a healer, showing her knowledge of plants and herbs for medicine. There is only one chapter on the musical career of Hildegard, and it mainly focuses on her lyrical style, which was quite different from other liturgical composers at the time. She followed the musical style of the period, and mostly wrote responsorial and antiphons. But the way she wrote her lyrics differed in that she was so much more visual. Her songs have a lot of metaphors and are quite emotional. An example is an antiphon written for a martyr named St Boniface. “O Boniface, the living light saw you, like a wise man, who returned to their source, the pure waters flowing from God, when you watered the greenness of the flowers. So you are the friend of the living God, and the true crystal shining, in the benevolence of the straight way , where you ran wisely.” (Ch. 6, 112) The rest of the book goes on to cover her life as a advisor to various men in high power ,and her role as a prophetess in a seer, and finally her death in the year 1179.

Grant, Barbara L. “Five Liturgical Songs by Hildegard” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5.3 Spring 1980 557-67

This online journal that I found through J-Stor is one of the few references I was able to find that has a significant example of the musical work of Hildegard von Bingen, albeit difficult to read. As you can see from the example, the music was written in nuemes and is mostly syllabic in nature. The main focus of the song is the text, because Hildegard was a liturgical composer. This particular song is about the Virgin Mary, and shows Hildegard’s unique writing style. Peculiar to other composers at the time, her songs featured flowery imagery and symbolism. Another characteristic is the lack of structure of the verses, the journal compares them to modern day free verse, because there is no continuity of syllables or lines.

Newman, Barbara. “Hildegard von Bingen: Visions and Validation” Church History 54.2 June 1985 167-75

As with most texts on the subject, this journal that I found through J-Stor mostly focuses on the life of Hildegard, and with greater detail on the prophetic aspects of her life. It examines at great length the controversies surrounding the prophetic claims of Hildegard, from her initial reluctance to share her visions with the world, to her criticisms later in life. It seems that she had some severe critics, because she begins to add warnings at the end of her books, which were more ultimatums than anything. “As for anyone who rejects the mystical words of this book, I will stretch forth my bow against him and pierce him… I will