Seventy-five of Hildegard's songs are existent today- sequences, hymns, antiphons, responsaries and versicles.[1] Near the end of her life, she gathered them all together into a collection called "The Symphony of the Harmony of the Heavenly Revalations". Additionally, she wrote an opera titled "Ordo Virtutum" which means "Play of the Virtues". This is the first morality play we know of in the West put entirely into music. It is very important that we do not only recognize and reproduce her letters, scientific and theological writings, but her music as well. Because her mystical experiences were so deep and profound, she often communicated her visions as forms of art, music being one. Hildegard was a very innovative person who turned to different techniques of expressing herself, which is a very special characteristic to have. It is said that because she demands so much of the lungs and diaphragm, that anyone who sings her music either gets high, faints, or has to lie down.[2] As Matthew Fox asserts, "Hildegard is not just talking about body and spirit; in her music, she brings spirit out of the body. " He claims that her music is a type of yoga that opens up imagination. Found in her music, her poetry is exceptionally rich. "Sensual and earthy, yet soaring and cosmic" is how Matthew Fox distinguishes Hildegard of Bingen's poetry. [2]
Bibliography
[1] Bingen, Hildegard av, and Sabina Flanagan. Secrets of God: Writings of Hildegard of Bingen. Shambhala, 1996.
[2] Fox, Matthew, and Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard of Bingen's Book Of Divine Works. Bear & Company, Inc., 1987.
