2008
Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia Armonie
Celestium Revelationum
Johanna Schillemat
Dr. Daniel Perkins
November 25, 2008
Music History I
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Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum
This paper will talk about the different aspects of Hildegard von Bingen’s 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.
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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
Cloister- Sanctuary Life
A. Religious Visionary
B. Inspiration as a composer
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
Miscellaneous Other works
A. Similarities from Symphonia
H. Differences from Symphonia
Impact on Society
A. Affects on society
B. Affects on church and authority
Her End
A. Impact for later composers
B. Legency
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
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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 Hildegard’s 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 mother’s and father’s 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.
Hildegard’s 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
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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). Hildegard’s brother, Roricus, was an active member of the church and
became a canon at the Theoley monastery (17).
Throughout Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s 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
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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
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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
Hildegard’s work as a writer. All of the songs were her poems set to music (Maddocks 282). Barbara
Newman explains Hildegard’s 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)
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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 Hildegard’s 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:
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Figure 2 (Newman)
Barbara Newman talks about the complexities of Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s 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
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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 Hildegard’s antiphons were
pre-thought text before the music was created (80). Although there are many other antiphons within
Hildegard’s Symphonia much of it is hard to analyze. Each of Hildegard’s 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 Mary’s 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 Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s music
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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 Hildegard’s society that impact many different people.
Hildegard was not just a person of divine worth, but became an advocate for self-expression.
Much of Hildegard’s 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 Hildegard’s 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
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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.
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Works Cited
Barth, P., J. Ritscher, and J. Schmidt-Gorg. Hildegard von Bingen. Salzburg: Otto Muller
Verlag, 1969.
Butcher, C. A Spiritual Reader Hildegard of Bingen. Brewster: Paraclete, 2007.
Craine, R. Hildegard Prophet of the Cosmic Christ. New York: The Crossroad, 1997.
Flanagan, S. Hildegard of Bingen. London: Routledge, 1998.
Maddocks, F. Hildegard of Bingen The Women of Her Age. New York: Random House,
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:
University of California, 1998.
Schipperges, H. Hildegard of Bingen Healing and The Nature of the Cosmos. Princeton:
Markus Wiener, 1997.