Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.

1. Hildegard
Bingen
von

2. Biography
Saint Hildegard of Bingen, O.S.B.
₪ 1098 – born in Bemersheim
(Böckelheim),Germany
₪ 17 Sept. 1179 – died in Bingen am Rhein
₪ 10 May 2012 – (equivalent canonization)
Pope Benedict XVI
₪ 17 September - Feast
General Information

3. Biography
₪ Doctor of the Church
₪ Sibyl of the Rhine
Sibyl - “prophetess”
- women believed to possess
prophetic powers in
ancient Greece
Rhine - European river
General Information

4. Biography
Hildegard was born a "10"th child (a
tithe) to a noble family
₪ 3 yrs. old – started to have visions
₪ 8 yrs. old – sent to an an anchoress
named Jutta to receive a religious
education.
Early Years and Education

5. Biography
₪ During all these years Hildegard confided of
her visions only to Jutta and another monk,
named Volmar, who was to become her
lifelong secretary.
Volmar
Jutta
The Awakening

6. Biography
₪ She was overwhelmed by feelings of
inadequacy and hesitated to act
₪ However, she had a prophetic call which lead
to the composition of her most famous work,
known as ”Scivias” (Latin for “Know the Ways of the
Lord”)
The Awakening

7. Contribution
₪ She wanted her visions to be sanctioned,
approved by the Catholic Church, though
she herself never doubted the divine origins
to her luminous visions
₪ With papal imprimatur, Hildegard was
able to finish her first visionary work Scivias
and her fame began to spread through
Germany and beyond.

8. Contribution
₪ Hildegard's most significant works
were her three volumes of visionary
theology:
₪ Scivias
₪ Liber Vitae Meritorum
₪ Liber Divinorum Operum

9. The Choirs of Angels
– Scivias 1.6
St. Hildeg ard’s
Scivias
an illustrated work
describing the 26
religious visions

10. St. Hildeg ard’s
Scivias
The Universal Human
- Illustration from
the manuscript of 'Scivias'

11. Frontpiece of Scivias,
showing Hildegard receiving a vision,
dictating to Volmar, and sketching on a
wax tablet
St. Hildeg ard’s
Scivias

12. Liber Vitae Meritorum
B o o k o f L i f e ' s M e r i t s

13. Liber Divinorum Operum
B o o k o f D i v i n e W o r k s
A Cidade Quadrada
(the town square)
from Liber divinorum operum

14. Contribution
₪ Other works of Hildegard:

15. Liber Subtilatum
Book of Subtleties of the Diverse Nature of Things
A medieval vision of
a spherical Earth
by Hildegard of Bingen

16. Liber Subtilatum
Book of Subtleties of the Diverse Nature of Things
The Order of the Elements;
Fire, Air, Water, and Earth

17. Causae et Curae
Physica and

18. Contribution
Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet -
Litterae ignotae,
which she used for her language Lingua Ignota
(Latin for "unknown language")

19. Music Affiliation

20. ₪ The beauty and depth of theme found
in Hildegard’s theology, philosophy,
cosmology and medicine can all be
found condensed in her music.
₪ It was beauty, sound, fragrance and the
flower of human artistry.
Music Affiliation THE WIDE COMPASS
OF HER MUSIC

21. ₪ Most of Hildegard's music was written
for the eight canonical hours of the
Divine Office
₪ Four kinds of musical forms were used
in liturgy:
- Antiphons
- Responsories
- Sequences
- Hymns
Music Affiliation HILDEGARD'S
MUSICAL FORMS

22. ₪ Antiphons
- usually one-line pieces (sometimes longer)
- freely composed text
with melody sung
before and after a psalm
- Hildegard's largest group
of works
Music Affiliation HILDEGARD'S
MUSICAL FORMS
Alleluia, O Virga Mediatrix
“Alleluia, o virgin mediator”
(Symphonia 18)

23. ₪ Responsories
- freely composed texts with music sung after a
scripture lesson.
- Often, the chant
alternates between
solo and group responses
Music Affiliation HILDEGARD'S
MUSICAL FORMS
O Clarissima Mater
“O luminous mother”
(Symphonia 9)

24. ₪ Sequences
- Dramatic poem sung during Mass between the
Alleluia and Gospel
- Hildegard's sequences
do not follow a
rhyme scheme
- sequences draw upon three
sources: the Bible,
Hildegard's own theology,
and the vitae of local saints.
Music Affiliation HILDEGARD'S
MUSICAL FORMS
Columba aspexit
"A dove gazed in”
Sequentia de Sancto Maximino

25. ₪ Hymns
- Devotional pieces
composed with or without
melodic repetition.
- illustrate Hildegard's
theology and poetic style
- Two hymns are for saints,
two are Marian, and
one is to the Holy Spirit.
Music Affiliation HILDEGARD'S
MUSICAL FORMS
O Ignee Spiritus
“O Spirit of Fire”
(Symphonia 27)

26. Ordo Virtutum
₪ Latin for
“Play of the Virtues”
- is a morality play
₪ consists of monophonic melodies for
the Anima (human soul)
and 16 Virtues.

27. Ordo Virtutum
" P l a y o f V i r t u e s “

28. Symphonia armonie
celestium revelationum
₪ Latin for
“Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial
Revelations”
₪ This is a cycle where Hildegard
combined all her music.

29. ₪ Hildegard's compositional style is
characterized by soaring melodies, often
well outside of the normal range of chant
at the time.
₪ According to some scholars, her music
is highly melismatic
Music Affiliation
is the singing of a single syllable of text
while moving between several
different notes in succession
MUSICAL STYLE

30. ₪ Her songs are
left open for
rhythmic
interpretation
because of the
use of neumes
without a staff.
Music Affiliation

31. ₪ Recent scholars have asserted that
Hildegard use feminine and sexual
imagery when describing spiritual
relationship with God
₪ The poetry and music of Hildegard’s
Symphonia is concerned with the
anatomy of female desire thus described
as Sapphonic.
Music Affiliation

32. CREATED BY:
NOTE: I do not own copyright to any of the information, images and
videos used in the presentation.
All credits goes to the owner.
- http://www.hildegard.org/music/music.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen
- http://the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/music/mather.html#resp