Hildegard Of Bigen Analysis
Hildegard of Bigen: Diverging from the Norm
Hildegard of Bigen was a writer and composer born in 1098. While known for her writings, she was also heavily involved in the Church starting from an early age. Unlike the majority of the women who lived during the middle ages, she was in a rare position of power. She was able to advise many of the Church’s leaders. In addition, she taught many nuns and guided them through the teaching of Christianity.[1]
The sequence was a genre of music that was prevalent during the eleventh and twelveth century. As a part of the mass, sequences were performed after the Alleluia and before the Gospel. During the early eleventh century, the text of a sequence was derived from the Alleluia, but new texts were starting to be written. The music of a sequence is syllabic. Each sentence in the text is paired off with the exception of the first sentence. This makes the form of the music ABBCC or double verse. [2]
Looking at Victimae paschal laudes, a sequence that is performed in Easter, I noticed it follows all the rules of a typical eleventh century sequence. It follows the AABBCC…. form that a sequence follows. As far as text setting, Victimae paschal laudes also contains paired …show more content…
Maximinus. While it appears to be in the form of a love poem, I don’t think Hildegard was expressing her love for Maximinus. I think this piece is about Maximinus love for the church and for God in general. This is in my opinion is seen in verse 3a, when she writes “O pigmentari qui estis in suavissima viriditate hortorum regis, ascendentes in altum quando sanctum sacrificium in arietibus perfecistis”. As shown in Example 2 above, verse 3a , also contains the highest range of notes in the entire piece of music. The lowest note in the section is G in the beginning of the first line, while the highest is D is performed near the end of the same line. I believe that Hildegard was trying to express his love for God by continuously rising
Hildegard of Bigen was a writer and composer born in 1098. While known for her writings, she was also heavily involved in the Church starting from an early age. Unlike the majority of the women who lived during the middle ages, she was in a rare position of power. She was able to advise many of the Church’s leaders. In addition, she taught many nuns and guided them through the teaching of Christianity.[1]
The sequence was a genre of music that was prevalent during the eleventh and twelveth century. As a part of the mass, sequences were performed after the Alleluia and before the Gospel. During the early eleventh century, the text of a sequence was derived from the Alleluia, but new texts were starting to be written. The music of a sequence is syllabic. Each sentence in the text is paired off with the exception of the first sentence. This makes the form of the music ABBCC or double verse. [2]
Looking at Victimae paschal laudes, a sequence that is performed in Easter, I noticed it follows all the rules of a typical eleventh century sequence. It follows the AABBCC…. form that a sequence follows. As far as text setting, Victimae paschal laudes also contains paired …show more content…
Maximinus. While it appears to be in the form of a love poem, I don’t think Hildegard was expressing her love for Maximinus. I think this piece is about Maximinus love for the church and for God in general. This is in my opinion is seen in verse 3a, when she writes “O pigmentari qui estis in suavissima viriditate hortorum regis, ascendentes in altum quando sanctum sacrificium in arietibus perfecistis”. As shown in Example 2 above, verse 3a , also contains the highest range of notes in the entire piece of music. The lowest note in the section is G in the beginning of the first line, while the highest is D is performed near the end of the same line. I believe that Hildegard was trying to express his love for God by continuously rising