The Classical Music Book

26

O

ne of the most original

voices in sacred music of

the early Middle Ages was

that of the female cleric Hildegard

of Bingen in Germany. Her musical

output is also one of the largest of

any single identifiable medieval

composer. Her collection entitled

Symphonia armonie celestium

revelationum (“The symphony of

the harmony of celestial revelation”),

for example, includes more than

70 plainchant compositions.

Hildegard grew up under the

tutelage of a young visionary

called Jutta of Sponheim. With

support from Jutta and a monk

named Volmar at the abbey of

Disibodenberg, Hildegard learned

the psalms and practiced the

Hildegard receives a divine

vision in an image from a 13th-century

manuscript. She is accompanied by

Volmar of Disibodenberg (left) and

her confidante Richardis von Stade.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Early female composers

BEFORE

c. 920 The surviving two

stanzas of Jórunn Skáldmaer’s

Sendibítr (“A biting message”)

represent the longest skaldic

verse (a type of Norwegian

poem possibly sung in

performance) by a woman.

1150 In Paris, Abbess Héloïse

possibly composes the Easter

music drama Ortolanus

and the Easter sequence

Epithalamica, attributed to

theologian Peter Abelard.

AFTER

1180 Beatriz Comtessa de

Dia writes a collection of five

troubadour songs. The song

A chantar m’er de so qu’eu no

volria survives with notation.

1210 Juliana of Liège may

have written music for the

Feast of Corpus Christi,

which is said to have come

to her in a vision.

WE SHOULD SING

PSALMS ON A

TEN-STRING PSALTERY

ORDO VIRTUTUM (c.1151), HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

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