medieval.org
muziekweb.nl
naxos.com
2008
Naxos 8.557983
10-11 August, 2005
Chapel of Hertford College, Oxford
HILDEGARD von BINGEN
1 - O cohors militiae (antiphon)
[15:49]
2 - O successores (antiphon) [8:21]
3 - O vos imitatores (responsory) [6:35]
4 - O dulcis electe (responsory) [6:19]
5 - O victoriosissimi triumphatores (antiphon) [9:38]
6 - O cruor sanguinis (antiphon) [6:05]
7 - O vis aeternitatis (responsory) [8:57]
8 - O splendidissima gemma (antiphon) [12:32]
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly
Abigail Boreham • chant (#1, 7), solo (#3, 5)
David Brown • chant (#6, 8), solo (#2, 4)
Clare Dawson • chant (#3, 7), solo (#1, 5)
Peter Davoren • chant (#2, 4, 8), solo (#6)
Eloise Irving • chant (#3, 5, 7), solo (#1)
David Knight • chant (#2, 4), solo (#6, 8)
Carys-Anne Lane • chant (#3, 5), solo (#7)
Paul Thompson • chant (#4, 6), solo (#2, 8)
Celestial Harmonies
Responsories and Antiphons from Symphoniae armonie celestium
revelationum
Hildegard of Bingen was a remarkable being. In a
postmodern Europe that still has to remind itself that women can write
inspired music, Hildegard's compositional beacon shines from a distance
of eight and a half centuries. In today's Europe, science, religion,
and diplomacy make strange bedfellows, yet Hildegard appears not only
to have reconciled all three, but actively to have investigated their
common roots. Given the unusual combination of Hildegard’s
accomplishments, perhaps the most comforting aspect of this saintly
figure's uniqueness is that she was not only a woman, but a peculiarly
feminine one.
Born into the Rhenish aristocracy in 1098, Hildegard entered a convent
eight years later because she was her parents' tenth child; she spent
the remainder of her eighty years as a nun, the latter half as abbess
of her own convent. Hildegard was not universally popular during her
lifetime: the establishment of her own convent at Rupertsberg near
Bingen (into which she attracted twenty nuns of noble birth) was
elitist. Added to which, Hildegard's community worshipped in fine
jewellery and ostentatious headgear. Our stereotypical image of the
frugal medieval abbess in enclosed orders may therefore be wide of the
mark. It seems rather that the sensuality of Hildegard's music and
poetry sprung from an individualistic view of high Benedictinism.
Hildegard's great musico-poetic collection was completed around the
year 1150. Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum ('Symphony
of the harmony of heavenly revelations') is a collection of 77 songs
and one music drama. The subjects of these songs are an idiosyncratic
collection of individuals and groups – the pieces included on this
recording are variously addressed to the Creator, the Redeemer, the
Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist, Apostles, Confessors, and
Martyrs. The five antiphons each frame a segment of psalm
verses (taken from Psalms 22, 78, 23, 61, and 113 respectively) and the
responsories make use of a refrain – two items in abcb
form (O vos imitators and O dulcis electe) and one (O
vis aeternitatis) in abcbdb.
Critics remain divided as to the assessment of Hildegard's competence
as a poetess and musician. Her colourful imagery and capricious
melodies can appear inspired or unpolished according to your point of
view. To some, these songs appear repetitive and formulaic; to others
they are coherent works of genius. And while Hildegard's lack of formal
training in Latin results in inconsistencies and poor construction, the
absence of grammatical convention enables a torrent of original imagery
to bypass traditional poetic shackles.
Jeremy Summerly
Another edition: