1096 - 1179 - Hildegarde of Bingen - German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher,
Christian mystic, visionary, Catholic saint. She is considered to be the founder
of scientific natural history in Germany.
Ordo Virtutum (Latin for Order of the Virtues) (c. 1151) is an allegorical morality play, or liturgical drama, by Hildegard of Bingen. It is the earliest morality play by more than a century, and the only Medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both the text and the music. It combines parallel organum and drone organum. Its style is characterized by soaring melodies that can push the boundaries of the more staid ranges of traditional Gregorian chant.
Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil.
Part I: Prologue in which the Virtues are introduced to the Patriarchs and Prophets who marvel at the Virtues.
Part II: We hear the complaints of souls that are imprisoned in bodies. The (for now) happy Soul enters and her voice contrasts with the unhappy souls. However, the Soul is too eager to skip life and go straight to Heaven. When the Virtues tell her that she has to live first, the Devil seduces her away to worldly things.
Part III: The Virtues take turns identifying and describing themselves while the Devil occasionally interrupts and expresses opposing views and insults.
Part IV: The Soul returns, repentant. Once the Virtues have accepted her back, they turn on the Devil, whom they bind, and then God is praised.
Part V: A procession of all the characters.
"O Frondens Virga" from Ordo Virtutum (4:50)
"Canticles of Ecstasy" (30:00, start @ 14:30) Monodic voice w/ antiphon (choral response) and drone tone.
Christian mystic, visionary, Catholic saint. She is considered to be the founder
of scientific natural history in Germany.
Ordo Virtutum (Latin for Order of the Virtues) (c. 1151) is an allegorical morality play, or liturgical drama, by Hildegard of Bingen. It is the earliest morality play by more than a century, and the only Medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both the text and the music. It combines parallel organum and drone organum. Its style is characterized by soaring melodies that can push the boundaries of the more staid ranges of traditional Gregorian chant.
Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil.
Part I: Prologue in which the Virtues are introduced to the Patriarchs and Prophets who marvel at the Virtues.
Part II: We hear the complaints of souls that are imprisoned in bodies. The (for now) happy Soul enters and her voice contrasts with the unhappy souls. However, the Soul is too eager to skip life and go straight to Heaven. When the Virtues tell her that she has to live first, the Devil seduces her away to worldly things.
Part III: The Virtues take turns identifying and describing themselves while the Devil occasionally interrupts and expresses opposing views and insults.
Part IV: The Soul returns, repentant. Once the Virtues have accepted her back, they turn on the Devil, whom they bind, and then God is praised.
Part V: A procession of all the characters.
"O Frondens Virga" from Ordo Virtutum (4:50)
"Canticles of Ecstasy" (30:00, start @ 14:30) Monodic voice w/ antiphon (choral response) and drone tone.
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