Hildegard's Spirit-Filled, Visionary Music - Term Paper Example

?Brescia Hildegard’s Spirit-Filled, Visionary Music Nicole McDaniels Nicole McDaniels February 4, 212 Hildegard’s Spirit-Filled, Visionary Music Some people live such extraordinary lives that their death doesn’t particularly slow the spread of their influence at all. Hildegard Von Bingen was such a person, and music was central to her experience and to her identity. In fact, she referred to herself as a tone from the tuba of God (Phillips 59). This paper aims to provide some insight into her life, and to discuss the impact her music has had on both secular and sacred music that followed. She was born in Bermersheim, near Alzey, in the summer of 1098, to a noble family. She had her first visionary experience before the age of five, and furthermore was not a healthy child. Her parents dedicated her to the religious life at age eight (Flanagan 2) She was enclosed in the cell of a pious, recluse noble woman, Jutta, where she spent most of her days in prayer. (3). More girls were also enclosed there, and by the time Hildegard was age 13 or 14, the cell had grown into a Benedictine convent, attached to a monastery (3). Jutta died when Hildegard was 38, and Hildegard subsequently was chosen to take over the leadership of the convent. Up to that time, Hildegard had continued to see visions, but had learned at an early age not to speak of them to anyone, to avoid embarrassment. She told only Jutta and later her teacher (3). At age 42, Hildegard had a mystical vision in which she suddenly accessed the meanings of all scripture and was told to write and publicize what she heard and understood. She resisted at first, out of low self esteem and humility, but her resistance caused her to become very ill. Her illness only left her when she was finally able to write (4). She spent 10 years writing her first visionary work. During this time, Hildegard announced that God had instructed her to move her convent away from the monastery. The monks resisted, for reasons of finance and reputation, wanting to retain control over Hildegard, as an asset (5). She received papal permission and authority, once the church established that her visions were authentic and that the Holy Spirit was revealing truths to her. She took her nuns to the place indicated in her vision, and she wrote three major volumes of revealed visionary information, left correspondence and other writings and art, and innumerable musical compositions, which are appreciated today (5). Although she suffered from health problems throughout her life, still she was a successful author, composer, artist, mystic, religious leader, visionary-prophetess, correspondent, abbess, teacher, rebel, scholar and healer, and she died at a ripe old age. One theory about her illness, a feminist explanation, is that it was a result of her struggle to find her own voice (Grant and Bingen). After all, she had been given away by her parents and grew up in a restrictive locked cell with a woman who spent her days in prayer and chanting. She had visions, some rather frightening, with dark and monstrous beings and explosions of blinding light, which she had to mostly keep to herself, to avoid embarrassment, Her health was delicate, a fact not conducive to claiming her own power, and consequently her own voice. She was creative and talented, artistically and intellectually gifted, but she was under the authority of monks and male church leaders who upheld the most stringent male-dominated values and norms of an extremely patriarchal society. Her most personal self-expression required papal permission. An alternative interpretation of the meaning of her illness and visions is offered by Dr. Charles Singer a founder of modern scholarship in the history of medicine and science, from a century ago. He thoroughly analyzed Hildegard’s writings and offered the opinion that they were likely her interpretations of the auras and visual distortions that can come with migraine headaches (Singer 78) and that her illness would likely be considered to be hystero-epilepsy (81). Of course, that does not explain the deep spiritual nature of her interpretations, their artistic expression and their lasting influence. Many people have migraines and see the characteristic auras and light flashes, but do not at all channel them into the magnificence of Hildegard’s work, and although epilepsy can be accompanied by visions, we do not hear about epileptic visions resulting in the amazing compositions of Hildegard. So, while it is possible that she suffered with migraines and epilepsy, her genius and accomplishments are not thereby explained. Hildegard von Bingen knew how to listen. She listened to her visions, to Divine intuition, to the meanings of her illness, to opinions of nobles and commoners with whom she corresponded, to her connection with nature, to the human body, and to the music that came to her from heavenly spheres (whether literally or metaphorically). Medieval music, with its emphasis on spiritually immersive listening, died off by 1500 AD and, without a continuing oral tradition, had to await resurrection by transcription (Kreutziger-Herr). Now Hildegard’s visionary music is available to us on CDs and DVDs. There is widespread interest, in fact. In the same way that the concepts of heaven and hell provide a virtual Other Place, a place beyond time and beyond our reality, the music of the Medieval Age provides us a non-virtual place of imagery, musical sounds and a direct spirituality through which we can better measure and understand ourselves. In this way, Hildegard’s music has become post-modern (Kreutziger-Herr). It is a place of innocence and ecstatic connection with nature and with sacred intuition, our interpretation of which can inspire our own spiritual experience and musical experience. In this process, Hildegard is present with us today, as a role model, an action heroine, a musical mentor, and our own inner abbess. By my use of the term, inner abbess, I am making reference to the current Humanistic and New Age understanding that we are each in charge of directing our own personal and spiritual development; that we are, in a sense, our own priest or priestess. Hildegard’s life demonstrated that she shared this understanding. From classical to country to rock and roll to electronic conscious-tweaking alternative music, just as with Hildegard’s Medieval music, we express and listen to the sounds of our soul in spiritual communion with the Sacred. Hildegard’s music is of exceptional quality. When I listen to it, I am transported out of my body into a realm of eternity. Nor am I alone in my strongly positive response to her music. Her stock of monophonic settings known as “Symphonia harmonic celestium revelationum” is regarded by many as the most comprehensive musical work that can be attributed to any named person in the twelfth century (Phillips 60). Those who love her music often fall prey to legends and think of her as the “missing link” between our mysterious musical past and a “politically correct view of Western music history” (Phillips 60). However, her music was not part of the mainstream during her lifetime and, although it was preserved, immense care was not taken to preserve it in multiple sources, as we might expect it to be, given the extraordinary excellence of her compositions (Phillips 60). Major reasons for this include the historical arrogance with which Medieval music came to be disregarded as more primitive, by later scholars; the emphasis on musical theory of the Middle Ages, to the near exclusion of actual compositions; the failure to collect together representative compositions, allowing them instead to remain scattered in obscure places or to be lost altogether; and the selective use of history to validate cultural ideals at the expense of accuracy (Kreutziger-Herr). Up to 1900, only 50 manuscripts of Medieval music were known, but beginning in 1900 other manuscripts began to be located and transcribed by musicologists, and became available to a receptive public (Kreutziger-Herr 91). The first concert of resurrected Medieval music was a small one, in Paris, in 1900. A more significant and systematic concert of Medieval music was offered in a multi-evening concert in Germany, in 1924. This concert triggered a scholarly focus on early music, which retained its steam (Kreutziger-Herr 99). Now, in our time, Hildegard’s music, like other Medieval compositions, is often performed in a way that creates an in-between state, between secular and sacred, between the authentic and the imagined. For example, Kreutziger-Herr describes a concert (Kreutziger-Herr 101), held in a church, which basically created a virtual liturgy with musicians being at first seated at random in the audience, dressed in bright colors, then making their way to the altar, heads bowed, already delivering music. This concert was filled with expectant young people who had come for new experience, and not as music scholars. It was neither authentic in terms of musical scholarship, nor in terms of religious order, yet it was a re-imagining of both and filled with meaning (101). Meaning is the key to current interest in Hildegard’s music. Meaning comes from feeling, and feeling is more about interaction than it is about accuracy. The post-modern age is about subjectivity, so music that can be re-imagined, historically and theologically, is valuable. Most Medieval music of Hildegard’s time is polyphonic. Although she also composed liturgical music, predominantly Hildegard’s music falls into the category of monophonic para-liturgical chant, plainchant (McComb). It is music, not intended as liturgy, but composed on religious themes. There were other composers of para-liturgical music as well. A very famous example, Hildegard’s contemporary, is Peter Abelard (1079-1142), in Paris (McComb). Actually, plainchant is the form represented by the majority of surviving Medieval manuscripts today, even though polyphony receives far more scholarly attention, due to its role in the development of Western music. However, it should be remembered that plainchant was the foundation for polyphony, in that people began adding creative embellishments to the plainchant and also used troping, inserting melodies and text between plainchant verses (McComb). In that sense, Hildegard’s musical style represents earlier musical ancestry than polyphony does. When secular music came into being, it also was at first monophonic. This was represented in the songs of the Troubadours and the equivalent traveling music of Germany. Furthermore, it mixed secular and sacred themes, featuring the Virgin Mary, for example, without trying to compete with liturgical music (McComb). It was, therefore, a kind of in-between monophonic music, a more secular cousin of Hildegard’s compositions. Hildegard composed music in four basic forms: Antiphons (her largest body of work), Responsories (her second largest body of work), Sequences, and Hymns. Antiphons were brief text and melody that was sung before and after a Psalm. Responsories were alternating solos and responses, sung after a scripture lesson. Sequences were dramatic pieces full of imagery, sung between the Alleluia and Gospel. Hymns were devotional pieces (Fierro). Her music was distinct from other music of her time in that it soared over a large range, leapt by fourths and fifths instead of by seconds and thirds, was more angular in contour, and made ample use of dramatic malismas (Fierro). Furthermore, she supported the use of instrumental accompaniment, associating the tambourine with inspiring discipline, the flute with the breath of the Spirit, the trumpet with the voice of the prophets, strings with the struggle of the soul toward repentance and light, harp with our holy origins, psaltery with the unity of heaven and earth, and the organ with creating community (Fierro). For Hildegard, music was body, mind, soul, nature, art, angelic praise, conversation with God, and every level of being, combined. I cannot help but speculate that, were Hildegard alive today, she would find musical performance art and multimedia enhancement interesting, as well as opera, rock concerts, alternative tribal music and raves, and various other fully body/mind/soul engaging modalities. Given her propensity and gift to find God alive and dynamic in everything, I suspect she would also enthusiastically find God in various forms of our music today. She would probably be curious to attend a performance of Tristan und Isolde, and to ascertain for herself how much of her influence Gottfried was subject to. She would, no doubt, be amazed to find out how utterly popular she is, in this day and age; how her music is featured in concerts, is recorded and available wherever CDs are sold. She would likely feel pleasantly embarrassed at how many scholars have something to say about her compositions of so long ago. She would maybe feel confused about feminist interpretations of her work. But, most of all, I am convinced she would feel blessed to know how strong and personal an influence she has had on so many people’s spiritual paths, through her music and example of a spirit-filled life. Works Cited Fierro, Nancy. "Hildegard of Bingen: Symphony of the harmony of heaven." 1997. Hildegard.org. Web. 3 February 2012 . Flanagan, Sabrina. Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179: A visionary life, 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, 1998. Print. Grant, Barbara and Hildegard von Bingen. "Five liturgical songs by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)." Signs (198): 5(3) 557-567. Print. Kreutziger-Herr, Annette. Dreaming the Middle Ages: The rediscovery of Medieval music in modernity. Cologne/Weimar: Bohlau Verlag , 2003. Print. McComb, Todd M. "Medieval & Renaissance music: A brief survey." 28 August 2001. Medieval.org. Web. 4 February 2012 . Nancy Phillips (2000). Dieter Torkewitz. Das alteste Dokument zur Entstehung der abendlandischen Mehrstimmigkeit: eine Handschrift aus Werden an der Ruhr. Das ‘Dusseldorfer Fragment’. Beihefte zum Archiv fur Musikwissenschaft 44. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999. 131; 8 pls. Plainsong and Medieval Music, 9:59-80. Print. Singer, Charles. "The visions of Hildegard of Bingen, 1928." Yale Journal of Biological Medicine (2005): 78(1) 57-82. Print. Read More