Hildegard von Bingen: A Survey
for Early Music (Oxford Press)
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1170) was an inspirational and remarkable woman who has been the subject of much scholarly inquiry and discussion in recent decades. Her contributions to theology, medicine, philosophy, literature, and music constitute only a small portion of the wealth of contributions this pioneer of the Middle Ages has made to the western world. While much has been made of her creative and forward-thinking ideas, it should be noted that she was one of the most influential musical figures of her time.
That this occurred in a time when the Rule of Men ruled all, her accomplishments are all the more remarkable. But have her contributions as a composer and musician received short-shrift to her cumulative body of work? The purpose of this paper is to survey the works available on Hildegard in order to put into perspective the extent to which her musical contributions have been adequately chronicled and analyzed from a musical perspective and, to the extent that there is a shortage, to consider the reasons why.
Her Life
Hildegard von Bingen was born in Bemersheim in the Alzey-Worms district of the Rhineland-Palatinate state in Germany in 1098. She was given over to the care of Jutta at the Benadictine monastery in Disibodenberg when she was eight years-old. Hildegard spent the next 30 years under Jutta’s care. Hildegard was initially intended to live in seclusion, but the cell in which she was intended to live “had to accommodate a much larger number of people than first intended... (and) the recluse’s cell had become, to all intents and purposes, a small Benadictine convent, attached to and dependent on the monastery at Disibodenberg.” (Flanagan, 3).
Not much is known of Hildegard’s life during that time, but she was unanimously elected head of the convent upon Jutta’s death in 1136 (Flanagan, 3). There are a few things of which we can be fairly certain. Accounts differ as to the exact age, but Hildegard, who was a mystic and was renowned for her visions. had her first vision at a young age. According to Flanagan’s biography, “she had her first visionary experience before she was five years old.” (Flanagan, 2). Other accounts mark the beginning of Hildegard’s visions “as early as the age of three - or five,” (Baird, 5) or as late as “the age of six.” (Hozeski, xi)
These visions present the first point of scholarly debate regarding the sanctity of this woman and potentially cast the first taint on her impressive accomplishments. “Since the early twentieth century a growing number of scholars have ascribed Hildegard’s visions, or at least the physical aspect of them, to migraine.” (Newman, 10) It is also known that Hildegard was a sickly child and often fell ill later in life, often spending months at a time confined to her bed, arising only after receiving another vision. Was Hildegard actually a mystic and prophet, or was she just a physically ill woman with tremendous insight who mistakenly connected the two?
While questioning the veracity of Hildegard’s visions makes for interesting table talk, there is no doubt that she was a remarkable and accomplished woman in virtually every field into which she dabbled. This truly came to pass after a revelation in her 42nd year. She claims to have seen a vision, migraine-induced or otherwise, and in this vision she was given to understand the importance of the written word and was commanded to “say and write what you see and hear.” (Flanagan, 4)
It was after she gave in to this vision and began her extensive writings that she began to contribute to the world of scholarship at large, in addition to contributing to the development of the church. Interesting that this should come when she was 42 years-old, an age at which most of her contemporaries would have already made their most significant contributions. Hildegard, however, was just getting started.
Upon taking up her pen in order to record her visions, thoughts, and interpretations, word passed to Pope Eugene, who was concerned about consolidating the church’s power and keeping a watchful eye on anything he considered controversial. Hildegard, at this time, was working on her first book, entitled Scivias. Pope Eugene obtained a copy of the work-in-progress and reviewed it himself. After reviewing the manuscript, “he sent a letter ‘commanding’ her to continue recording her visions.” (Newman, 11).
After the Pope sanctioned Hildegard’s visions, she was established as a true prophet and her fame spread. It was because of this that the convent outgrew its home at Disibodenberg. The convent had substantial assets in the form of the dowries of the individual nuns, but those funds were under the strict control of the abbott of Disibodenberg. Hildegard, therefore, set out to move the convent out of Disibodenberg and into “their own house, which she was called to establish on Mount St. Rupert.” (Newman, 12).
While the move was not easy, spurring a battle of wills with the abbott of Disibodenberg, she ultimately prevailed and succeeded in establishing a new home for her order. It was during this time that she continued to document her visions and revelations.
The story of Hildegard von Bingen is filled with remarkable moments, such as becoming an authority on Christian doctrine, receiving papal blessing to write theological books, preaching openly, composing music, writing poetry, and writing about sexuality and gynecology from the female perspective. (Newman, 1). These accomplishments would have been substantial for anyone, but especially for a woman in the Twelfth Century.
From a musical standpoint, Hildegard wrote a fairly substantial number of pieces to accompny religious ceremonies. She called these pieces symphniae (Hildegard von Bingen) and they were compiled in one book. 75 examples of these pieces have survived and are performed and recorded to this day. Her most important musical contribution, though, is the liturgical drama Ordo Virtutum, which means “Order of the Virtues.”
Ordo Virtutum is a dramatic representation of the struggle of the Human Soul between the Devil and the 16 Virtues. There are twenty singing roles, female voices representing the Soul and the Virtues. The Devil, by contrast, has only a speaking role. The drama is intended to teach lessons about piety and virtuous living through a life of devotion to the Lord. It is the first time since the Roman Catholic Church established its place of prominence in Western Society that a dramatic medium was used to tell a story, rather than strictly as part of a religious ceremony or ritual.
While the story is one of piety, and certainly one that the church found acceptable, it was remarkably visionary for the time. Ultimately, other liturgical dramas were composed, which led to the advent of the oratorio and opera and, in some ways, evolved into modern-day musicals. It is difficult to believe that Wicked can ultimately trace its roots back to a piece written by a German nun in the 1100s, but there is no doubt that Hildegard was an important foundational cog in getting that ball rolling.
After a life of great accomplishment, Hildegard died on September 17, 1179 at the age of 81. It is said that when she died, “two rainbows crossed in the twilit sky, setting the whole of St. Rupert’s Mount aglow with celestial fireworks.” (Newman, 28) Her vita, or biography, had been begun by Godfrey, a monk of Disibodenberg and Hildegard’s secretary, before Hildegard’s death and was completed by Theodoric of Echternach some time after Hildegard’s death. In general, vita’s were written to chronicle the life of significant religious figures for consideration for sainthood. Hildegard’s vita also includes first person accounts from Hildegard herself, a rather unique feature in such works.
Hildegard’s body of work is impressive and includes such books as Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum, and De Operatione Dei (chronicles of her visions), several volumes of correspondence, Symphonia (a collection of her musical works), Ordo Virtutum (her liturgical drama), Liber Vitae Meritorium (The Book of the Rewards of Life), the Ingota Lingua (Unknown Language), and Physica and Causae et Curae (both works of a medical nature).
Her Place in Scholarly Research
The majority of writings on Hildegard have come about only in recent years as her work has enjoyed its own renaissance. Her own writings were apparently well-maintained at her convent, which still operates to this day. Hildegard was, first and foremost, a nun, so it is not surprising that the majority of the body of work written on her comes from a religious perspective.
The BBC Omnibous documentary, Hildegard, tells the dual story of one of Hildegard’s conflicts with the abbott at Disobodenberg alongside the departure of one of her favorite pupils, Richardis of Stade. Rather than telling the stories through interviews, they tell the stories through dramatization. The conflict with the abbott was over a body which she buried on church ground and was later ordered to exhume. She refused and the abbott banned the sisters from performing any music, singing the Mass, and receiving communion. While this documentary primarily focuses on Hildegard’s relationship with the abbott of Disibodenberg, it does have something of a bent towards the musical Hildegard. For example, when asked by Richardis when she found peace, Hildegard answered “When I first heard music.” (BBC Omnibus).
This documentary is also significant in its choice of stories to tell of Hildegard’s life. A woman who was so accomplished likely had a wealth of stories available which could fairly paint the portrait of Hildegard’s strength of character, but the one which the producers chose to focus on was one involving music. While the documentary really gives no sense of why Hildegard was a significant composer of the day, it clearly establishes her as a strong musical personality and makes the use of music as a vessel by which humankind may touch the Divine explicit.
A companion documentary, A Source of Inspiration, produced by the Washington National Cathedral, provides a decidedly religious twist to the chronicling of Hildegard’s life. This documentary does relate her story through interviews of historians and theologians who are experts in Hildegard’s life and works. While this documentary deals more with the veracity of Hildegard’s visions, it does touch upon her music. Roger Eisenstein of the Folger Consort explains that her “poetry, for example, is unmetered and unrhymed and has an incredibly rich amount of imagery in it. The music matches that imagery and unmeasured quality. It’s something that sounds amazingly modern to our ears... What Hildegard does with the pitches and the way she uses this form of centuries old, even to her centuries old, Gregorian Chant is quite amazing and quite different from anything else.” (Washington)
Sabina Flanagan provides one biography of Hildegard, Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life. This work certainly considers Hildegard as musician, but is written by an historian and not a musician, therefore Hildegard’s musical contributions are not considered in the proper perspective as they relate to other music of the time. More emphasis is placed upon Hildegard’s writings in words than on her writings in music.
Another valuable resource on Hildegard’s life is Voice of the Living Light, edited by Barbara Newman, a leading authority on Hilegard. This book is comprised of an introductory chapter written by Newman herself providing a biography of Hildegard. Each of the next seven chapters is written by a different author and focuses on a different aspect of Hildegard’s contributions to the world. These chapters include writings on Hildegard as abbess, religious thinker, prophet and reformer, correspondent, artist, medical writer, composer and dramatist, and poet (the last again written by Newman). This organization is a far more useful methodology than Flanagan’s biography because it draws upon the opinion of an expert in each field. Margot Fassler, the author of the section on Hildegard as composer, is a professor of music at Yale University and is an expert in chant and liturgy.
This work utilizes relevant examples of Hildegard’s music and analyzes it from both a musical perspective and a symbolic perspective as to how that music relates to its subject-matter. This is by far the most thorough analysis of Hildegard’s complete body of musical work.
Her Music in Scholarly Literature
On the other hand, the most thorough treatise on Hildegard’s music in general is The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard von Bingen, a compilation of critical studies of Hildegard’s most famous work. This work examines the Ordo Virtutum from differing points of view, such as performance practices, viewing it as a precursor to the English Moralities, examining it from a monastic standpoint, and looking at the poetic and literary structure of the work.
It is impossible to consider any dramatic work, but most definitely a musical drama, without considering the text. Therefore, it is not just important to consider the music of the work, but also to consider the text and how the text plays into the work as a whole. It is interesting to note, for example, that the Devil is the only leading male character in the entire drama. While the other parts, those of the Human Soul and the Virtues are all sung, the part of the Devil is spoken. This suggests Hildegard’s belief that music was Divinely inspired and only belonged with those who commune with the Lord.
While there are very few books which deal exclusively with Hildegard’s music, she is included in some compilations, albeit sparsely. Women Composers in Germany devotes a scant three paragraphs to Hildegard, nearly mentioning her only in passing as it moves on to other women composers. The New Historical Anthology of Music by Women contains a section of Hildegard, authored by Michael Klaper. It also contains three musical examples along with recordings of those examples. This is, obviously, a more through treatment of Hildegard as composer, yet only gives sparse treatment to the subject works.
Much greater analysis of Hildegard’s music may be found in shorter journal articles and through websites. There is a wealth of modern materials on Hildegard available to the persistent researcher. Unfortunately, Hildegard has not yet taken her place as a serious figure in the world of music. This begs the question of why?
A Discussion on Hildegard’s Place in Music
It seems fairly obvious that, while Hildegard has the greatest number of surviving musical works of any composer of her time, she was certainly not the only composer of her time. Secular music was mostly lost for two primary reasons. The first is that there was not a standardized system of notation in effect at the time. Notation did exist, but not as it does now, and not as it developed even shortly after Hildegard’s time. More importantly, though, it was not only difficult to find someone literate and sufficiently educated to write music down, it was very expensive to write it down on parchment and store that parchment for posterity.
The vast majority of surviving music from the time was sacred music because churches were the scholarly centers of society at the time. As such, priests and nuns were largely literate and well-educated, this owing to the fact that they were required to read the Mass and other religious rites and also the fact that most members of the clergy were children of the aristocracy who had little to no chance of inheriting any property of any value. They were, therefore, provided with a classical education and were better prepared for a life of study.
Hildegard’s position as an abbess assured her of the resources to not only write down her observations in general, but also to make a record of her music. As for why her music was lost for centuries before resurfacing recently, who knows? Her writings were archived at her convent, which might explain why the source material was lost to the world at large, but her contributions were so vast and significant, it is difficult to believe that there were not adequate records maintained with the church outside of Mount St. Rupert.
One possible explanation is the fact that Hildegard was a highly accomplished woman in a strongly male-dominated world. Hildegard had touched enough people to provide some momentum for her ascendency to sanctity, but likely not enough to insure her place in the hearts and heads of the world throughout generations of male domination.
Fortunately, Hildegard was greatly revered in her own order and her works were carefully tended so that future generations could study them, which is exactly what has happened in recent years. One could consider the last half of the twentieth century the beginning of a renaissance of interest in Hildegard. This would likely provide a two-fold explanation for the relative dearth of scholarly writing on Hildegard’s music. First, that not many people are yet aware of her music and of her significance in the musical world. Second, that she simply hasn’t been under the scholastic microscope for as long as most other composers. Both of these trends should self-correct as time goes by.
The problem with critical analysis in the discovery phase of an historical figure is that it is generally skewed. Those who first gravitate towards studying a newly uncovered historical figure tend to be the ones who identify most strongly with that figure. As such, they will typically have a more positive opinion of that figure than later scholars might. Those initial writings tend to color the lenses of those who pick them up and look through them later. It is only after the novelty of studying a new personage has worn off that we begin to see a balance in the analysis of that person and we truly learn who they were.
We are very much in the infancy stage of discovery about Hildegard von Bingen. The world of academia has only been actively aware of her for the past fifty years, so we are still in the process of wrapping our heads around who this remarkable woman was.
Conclusion
Because we are still in the relative infancy stage of learning about Hildegard von Bingen, the resources available are sparse and not yet well-developed. Whereas composers such as Wagner and Bach have hundreds, even thousands, of books written about their music, Hildegard has two. While the breadth of her body of work is not nearly as extensive as that of Wagner or Bach, it is no less important when considered in the proper context.
There are countless questions surrounding the life and mysticism of Hildegard von Bingen. Was she truly a prophet or did she just suffer from migraines? Was she touched by the Divine, or was she just an egomaniac? Were her health problems signs from a Greater Power or was she just a sickly woman? Was she nothing more than an opportunist, or was she genuine about her faith? Perhaps the true woman llies somewhere in between.
Regardless of what one thinks of Hildegard from a religious standpoint, there is no mistaking the significance of her contributions to a wide variety of fields. Certainly, her contributions to the world of music compare more than favorably with any of her contemporaries. As Eisenstein pointed out, her music is pleasing to a modern ear and very progressive for its time. She was not trained in the musical arts, yet she somehow managed to write era-appropriate music that is so sophisticated and beautiful that it has survived nearly 900 years, and even flourishes today.
It is important that Hildegard be studied more extensively to begin to unlock the many mysteries that surround this enigmatic figure. It is only through greater examination that we can put her music in its proper place among the great composers of the past and present. It is only through a more profound understanding that we can appreciate her effect on composers who came after her. It is only through further critical discussion and analysis that we can open a meaningful dialogue on the veracity of her claims as a mystic, a prophet, a poet, a composer, and a humanist.
Hildegard’s life, to a great extent, is shrouded in mystery. She appeared as if out of nowhere, stormed onto the scene, changed the church forever, then departed this world. How is it possible to truly appreciate that impact with the meager work available out there to draw upon? The simple answer is that it is not.
It is not difficult to imagine a time when Hildegard’s work will truly be appreciated on par with men of the Middle Ages, and that time may not be far in the future. Who can tell whether there are additional church records on Hildegard, or whether records of her music and writing exist elsewhere? Regardless, though, the wealth of information Hildegard herself left behind in the form of her writings give us plenty of fodder to study this gifted musician and remarkable human being.
Food for though, if you will.
*** The bibliography for this piece can be found in a separate blog entry at http://jfkmusichistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/bibliography.html ***
