On the web site of the Brussels Cathedral, you will now find a nice souvenir of our recent Hildegard von Bingen mini festival in the form of a short video that gives a taste of what we got up to 🙂
Don’t hesitate to check it out!
https://www.cathedralisbruxellensis.be/video-mini-festival-hildegard
Here is the next Hildegard von Bingen antiphon up for revisiting in my Hildegard Revisited project. As ever, before I create my new piece around this work I have first recorded the monody in its original form (sung from the 12th century Dendermonde manuscript – if you are interested, can follow the neumes on the first two manuscript images below):
cum processit: an antiphon dedicated to the Virgin Mary
When the creation of God’s finger came forth, formed in God’s image, issuing of mixed blood through the pilgrim-way of Adam’s fall, then the elements received these vital joys in you, O Mary, worthy of praise, and in the reddening sky they sound you in their praises.
This project is on SoundCloud
This is the first of the 14 Scivias chants – so called because their texts feature in Hildegard von Bingen’s first book of mystical theology, Scivias (short for “Know the way of the Lord”).
You’ll spot that my piece begins in English, and you may wonder where the text comes from. Well, in the Scivias manuscript there is a short introduction to the chant texts that I have translated from the Latin (as found in the Riesencodex) and set to new music. However, the phrase “Maria, chorzta gemma” is my addition. I wanted to allude to the fact that this is an antiphon dedicated to the Virgin Mary and also introduce a word from Hildegard’s lingua ignota: “chorzta” (which I choose to pronounce with a German “ch”, as in “ach!”) is one of the five words used in the chant “o orzchis ecclesia” (see here for more info regarding this chant) and it means “shining”, or “glittering”.
My plan is to set the Scivias chants as a series for live performance, and I hope to premier the first two works early next year with the specialist group that I am in the process of forming: Ensemble Caldemia. Watch this space for more info!
o splendidissima gemma – Maria, chorzta gemma
O most splendid gem and serene glory of the sun, you into whom has poured the gushing fountain from the heart of God, which fountain is God’s only word, which created the first material of the world, which Eve threw into confusion. This word God made human for you, and because of this you are that bright material through which this very word breathed out all the virtues, just as it brought forth all the creatures from the first material.
This project is on SoundCloud
The texts of 14 of Hildegard von Bingen’s chants appear at the end of her first book of mystical theology – Scivias. Together with the morality play Ordo Virtutum, they are included in the thirteenth vision of the third part of that book, The Choir of the Blessed. Here is the miniature that accompanies the vision:
Hildegard also set these 14 texts to music, and they can be found together with their melodies amongst the other chants in the Riesencodex and Dendermonde manuscripts. They are grouped in pairs, each pair being made up of an antiphon and a responsory with a specific dedication.
The first chant in this Scivias series is O splendissima gemma. It is an antiphon dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Here it is in its original, monodic form. I have special plans for its revisiting. Watch this space!
O most splendid gem and serene glory of the sun, you into whom has poured the gushing fountain from the heart of God, which fountain is God’s only word, which created the first material of the world, which Eve threw into confusion. This word God made human for you, and because of this you are that bright material through which this very word breathed out all the virtues, just as it brought forth all the creatures from the first material.
This project is on SoundCloud
What an absolute pleasure to give a workshop on singing Hildegard von Bingen from the original notation to the talented and motivated members of Pieter De Moor’s early vocal ensemble music class at the music academy in Jette (part of Early Music and Beyond). Thanks for a really great afternoon, everyone!
