Caldemia is the umbrella name for a set of activities connected to learning and performing medieval music, and in particular the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and pairing it with the modern and contemporary music it has inspired.
The word “caldemia” is one of Hildegard’s made-up words from her lingua ignota. It appears in the one and only known usage of her language – in the chant O orzchis ecclesia. She gave it the meaning of “aroma” or “scent”.
A performance group made up of a core of five professional female voices, supplemented as necessary by other singers and/or instrumentalists as dictated by the requirements of individual performance programmes
Workshops provided by Penelope Turner, teaching how to sing the music of Hildegard von Bingen from the original 12th century notation both to professional musicians and music students, and to a broader public.
A recording and composing project begun in March 2020 at the beginning of the first COVID pandemic. The aim is to interpret and revisit all 77 of Hildegard von Bingen’s liturgical chants, putting them in a modern 21st century setting.
Vision and Approach
The key objective behind the activities of Caldemia is to encourage the interpretation of medieval music from the original manuscripts rather than from modern editions.
For the projects around Hildegard von Bingen, this means deciphering her 12th century neumatic code. The medieval neumes, which can be seen as written gestures, and the overall graphic effect of the notation, inform and inspire the singer and help ensure the necessary flow and direction of the interpretation. The danger of a note-by-note interpretation of this music is thereby reduced.
