On Sunday October 11th at 6pm, I will be performing chants by Hildegard von Bingen together with some of my own compositions from my Hildegard Revisited project.
This concert completes a series of four “Singing Hildegard” workshops dedicated to singing Hildegard’s music from the original 12th century notation, and I will be joined on stage for some of the chants by my workshop attendees. At the beginning of the concert, I will give a short introduction to the 12th century notation, and the audience will be encouraged to try a few things out!
If you would like to join us for this Hildegard feast, you can reserve your tickets via www.musicrelevant.be. Full details on the poster below.
My next track in this Hildegard von Bingen project is the “Scivias” antiphon for the confessors: O successores. Here is a link to my recording, and below you will find the original notation from both the Dendemonde and the Riesencodex manuscripts together with an English translation. I’ll be back with my revisited version – watch this space!
Oh successors of the strongest lion, you, the masters in his household, between the temple and the altar, as the angels sound forth praises, you are here to help the nations. You are among those who accomplish this, forever showing your care in the service of the Lamb.
For anyone in or close to Tournai, Ensemble Caldemia will be giving a performance of our “Living Light” programme of music by, and inspired by, Hildegard Von Bingen at the Collégiale Saint-Pierre in Leuze-en-Hainaut on October 23rd, 2026 at 7.30pm. It would be a pleasure to see you there. You can reserve your tickets via www.musicrelevant.be.
Here is o felix anima – the happy soul – my revisiting of Hildegard Von Bingen’s chant, o felix anima.
I particularly enjoyed setting Hildegard’s text for this one. Words like “conculcasti” (“trampled”) are very inspiring!
It was, as ever, a bit of a sweat home-recording my composition in overdub. There are always difficult questions – like which voice to record first to optimise tuning and ensemble. For example, I get the best tuning results by recording the accompanying voices first, starting with the base. However, recreating the original, free, interpretation of the chant then becomes a bit of a challenge!
Anyway, I hope you like it. With a bit of luck, I will get the chance to play it live with my Ensemble Caldemia colleagues at some point. That should resolve some of the overdub difficulties – although it will certainly bring its own challenges 🙂
Although the feast day of Saint Disibod is September 8th, some traditions commemorate him on July 8th – reason enough for me to make this responsory by Hildegard von Bingen the next in my Hildegard Revisited series.
Disibod was a 7th century Irish bishop and hermit who traveled to Germany and founded the Disibodenberg Monastery, the place where Hildegard started her life as a nun.
O felix anima
R: Oh happy soul, whose body, made of earth, you trampled in the pilgrimage of this world, is thus crowned, by the divine rationality that made you its own mirror.
V: The Holy Spirit also looked upon you as his dwelling place.
R: is thus crowned, by the divine rationality that made you its own mirror.
D: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
R: is thus crowned, by the divine rationality that made you its own mirror.
