
"There is the music of Heaven in all things."
— Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179) was a German abbess and composer. She was born of noble parents and was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg. By the age of 15, she sought to pursue a religious life and eventually became a prioress of a convent (next in dignity to an abbess) in 1136.
Hildegard had experienced religious visions since she was a child. However, it was not until she was 42 years old that she consulted her spiritual father regarding her visions. A committee of theologians confirmed the authenticity of her visions, and a monk was appointed to help her record them in writing.
Around 1147, Hildegard founded a new convent at Rupertsberg where she continued to record her visions into writing. A talented poet and composer, Hildegard collected 77 lyric poems, each with a musical setting composed by her, into a collection of liturgical chants.
Today, Hildegard is regarded as one of the first identifiable composers in the history of Western music. Her compositions stand out from other liturgical music because of the almost improvisatory nature of her melodies. Her religious poetry is like a sort of divine stream-of-consciousness and full of lushness.
During her life, Hildegard was a pioneer who wrote practical books on biology, botany, medicine, theology, and the arts. She was also a prolific letter-writer to everyone from humble laypeople to popes, emperors, and kings.
Hildegard commanded the respect of the Church and political leaders of her day. She died in 1179 in the monastery she had founded near Bingen. Ironically, despite her renown and many compositions still remaining today, there is no evidence that her music was ever heard outside her own convent during her lifetime.
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