Hildegard von Bingen

Admin Posts: 608 Join date: 2011-05-16 Age: 64

"All the arts serving human desires and needs
are derived from the breath
that God sent
into the human body."

HILDEGARD von BINGEN:
(1098-1179)

Hildegard von Bingen was a mystic and visionary, a composer, an artist, an herbalist, an author, a counselor, a linguist, a naturalist, a scientist, a physician, a philosopher, and a poet.. She is the first known composer with an existing biography. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, has been called the first form, and possibly the origin, of opera. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs and poems.

Hildegard von Bingen, also known as Blessed Hildegard or Saint Hildegard, was a German abbess of a large convent in 11th century Germany. She was placed into a convent by her family as a young girl and was known to have intense visions at a very early age. Hildegard’s first recollection as a youth was about a vision, where she elaborated upon a vision she had with such detail, that her family and community were amazed. Her visions were recorded by an anchoress named Jutta, who was her teacher.

Unbeknownst to most her visions grew to such a level that in her 42nd year she became bedridden, seeing images, hearing voices, yet unable to move. As she later recounted, she was being called upon to write and teach of all that she knew, so that her insights, including those regarding Biblical texts, might be shared with others.

Hildegard lay in her sick bed for weeks without responding to the call to write and teach. In her humility as a 12th century woman, she believed that writing was the domain of men only, and that to write was to overstep the boundaries of what God ordained to be her path. Even among men of this time it was typical to not assign ownership to written musical works, as a token of divine humility. It was the intensity and the length of her illness, and the coaxing and support of her dear friend and lifelong secretary and scribe, the monk Volmar, which eventually changed her mind. As she put pen to paper in earnest, her strength and life vitality returned to her.

This first set of writings took about 10 years to complete, and emerged as Scivias, or Know the Ways. The Pope, hearing of her work, sent a group of representatives to meet with her and collect samples of her writings. Finding them much to his liking, he gave her writings his blessing. As a result, even more visitors and women wishing to join Hildegard began to flow into the monastery. Undoubtedly it was soon apparent to Hildegard that her dream of having a separate monastery, not under the rule of certain men within the Catholic Church, was within reach. She had, or was gaining, both the financial support of many women and the political allies within the Church and nobility which would make this a reality. Hildegard created quite a stir by proposing not only to relocate her women to a new monastery, but to build one on a mountainside that stood alone and was not protected by a men's monastery or the dwelling of a bishop. She choose to take with her only a single monk as celebrant for the mass; her friend, her scribe, her editor and her confidante, Volmar. The new monastery was built near the ruins of a monastery founded by the mother of St. Rupert. The next years were filled with a growing fame. Hildegard was asked to compose music for churches in other areas and was sought after as a teacher and traveling preacher.

She composed music based on her visions. Her known compositions – that is, the ones that still physically exist – are numerous considering how little we have from the Middle Ages period. Her compositions vary in subject matter, ranging from 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, 4 hymns and 7 sequences, 2 symphonies (for virgin and widows) and three unique pieces (Alleluia, Kyrie and O viridissima virga) for a total of 77 works.

One of her greatest challenges came towards the end of her life. An interdict, which barred communion and the singing of the divine office was held upon her nuns for many months. As a result, she wrote a series of letters describing her experience of the role of music as a bridge uniting the sacred into the profane.

"But the body is the garment of the soul and it is the soul which gives life to the voice. That's why the body must raise its voice in harmony with the soul for the praise of God...For all the arts serving human desires and needs are derived from the breath that God sent into the human body."

Different recordings of her music exist, particularly by ensembles with names as Sequentia and Gothic Voices. Hildegard's music has become rather popular in the mainstream of New Age, and influences even contempory composers such as Arvo Pärt.

My sources: Hildegard von Bingen by Sabina Trooger; Schneekluth publishers, München, Germany
Hildegard von Bingen by Régine Pernoud; Ooievaartje publishers, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Hildegard von Bingen by Etty Mulder; Ambo publishers, Baarn, the Netherlands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFPJa95qQE&feature=fvwrel

Music by Sequentia: Canticles of Ecstacy. Sequentia is one of the world’s most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music. It is an international group of singers and instrumentalists – united in Paris under the direction of the legendary performer and teacher Benjamin Bagby – for performances and recordings of Western European music from the period before 1300.

Posts: 377 Join date: 2011-06-17 Age: 62 Location: Belgium

Naema,
Again you've posted one of my favourites.
I'm a long time fan of her.
She is such an intriguing personality.
Last year, on our way back from East Germany, we stopped in Bingen for lunch. But to my surprise, nothing about
Hildegard. But since this was a haphazard visit, I was unprepaired. I must dig into this again sometime.
Anyhow thanks for all this information.

If you're interested: I've already quoted on various accasions from the french site "autres dimensions".
There may be pros and cons with regard to channelling, but, speaking for myself, the experiences I'm having with
the "protocolles" division of this site are quite real!
One of the entities channelled is Hildegard.
For those interested: this is the site: www.autresdimensions.com (in french of course).
Just click on "Messages à lire", click the arrow next to "sélectionner" and choose Hildegarde de Bingen.

Subject: Re: Hildegard von Bingen Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:17 pm

Dear Naema, you have created a truly beautiful post about Hildegard. I remember years ago hearing her music for the first time on the radio, and not knowing then who it was by. At the end of the performance I heard her name for the first time - this was long before she became something of a 'hype'. Hildegard was a true visionary in every sense of the word, and said of herself: "I am a feather on the breath of God." Almost a millennium later, those words still give consolation.

Reality is the playground of our dreams

Admin Posts: 608 Join date: 2011-05-16 Age: 64

You're welcome Charles!
And maybe, if your visit would have been more extended, you would have managed to unearth some sign of Hildegard's presence.

And dear Hawkwood, indeed, we are a feather on the breath of God. There is so much consolation to find in Hildegards works, both in her paintings and in her music.

Posts: 505 Join date: 2011-09-03

Dear Naema

Thank you for sharing with us the wonderful and inspiring story of Hildegard. She was a channel of the divine to uplift the consciousness of the world. She broke many barriers for women, but managed to work within the institution of the church. I like the portrait of Hildegard you posted. Her face seems to radiate not only spirituality but a great intelligence, a great knowing. It was to the credit of the powers in the church at that time to give her respect and honor.

I find her paintings intriguing. There appears to be a theme of the elements in the painting and also the circle or the mandala. Her spiritual vision is not just a relationship with the divine but encompasses knowledge regarding the natural world as the reflection of the divine. She is a great visionary and mystic.

Her music also is truly beautiful, sacred, haunting yet somehow still feels contemporary.

Hildegard had tremendous breadth of knowledge and contributed greatly to the arts as well as science, and viewed creative expression as the channel for the divine to flow through.

Admin Posts: 608 Join date: 2011-05-16 Age: 64

Joe wrote:

I find her paintings intriguing. There appears to be a theme of the elements in the painting and also the circle or the mandala. Her spiritual vision is not just a relationship with the divine but encompasses knowledge regarding the natural world as the reflection of the divine. She is a great visionary and mystic.

Her music also is truly beautiful, sacred, haunting yet somehow still feels contemporary.

I so agree with you Joseph.
And in my humble opninion I believe that her visions, and flowing out of her visions her music and her paintings, are far beyond the comments of Oliver Sachs, the neurologist, who suggests that her visions are a classic example of extraordinary imagary preceeding a migraine.
People who suffer with migraine do speak of certain experiences with light and images, but can they be compared with the complexity - and the accompanying spirituality - of Hildegard's visions? I personally consider Oliver Sachs's observations at the least questionable.

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Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen

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