HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (1098-1179):: Composer - Poet - Mystic

MUSIC

Discography:: www.apc.net/ia/ghildgrd.htm

available at Amazon:: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-sear

... Approximately eighty compositions survive, which is a far larger repertoire than almost any other medieval composer. Among her better known works is the Ordo Virtutum ("Order of the Virtues" or "Play of the Virtues"), a type of early oratorio for women's voices, with one male part - that of the Devil. It was created, like all of Hildegard's music, to be performed by the nuns of her convent.

BBC 'Artist Profile':: www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/hildegard.s

STREAMING AUDIO

Ordo Virtutum:: www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/rams/philde

O Euchari:: www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/rams/philde

WRITINGS

Hildegard as poet-seer:: www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotion

... "But although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of god, I fell onto a bed of sickness."

Some poetry online:: www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotion

... She collected her visions into three books: the first and most important Scivias ("Know the Way") completed in 1151, Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits") and De operatione Dei ("Of God's Activities") also known as Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works"). In these volumes she first describes each vision, then interprets them, the narrative richly decorated with pictures under her direction,

... Hildegard's writings are also unique for their generally positive view of sexual relations and her description of pleasure from the point of view of a woman. They might also contain the first description of the female orgasm.

LIFE

Biography:: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Binge

Big Intellectual Essay:: www.staff.uni-mainz.de/horst/hildegard/d

Biography:: www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.h

... Hildegard was a powerful woman for medieval times. She communicated with Popes such as Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and heads of monastaries like St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Often they were asking for prayers, which were believed to be very effective, or on important matters to get her opinion. She traveled widely giving public speeches which was almost unheard for a woman of that time.

FURTHER READING

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen:: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1

The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen : A Novel:: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/05178839

Hildegard of Bingen's Book of Divine Works : With Letters and Songs:: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0