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A Survival Kit

Everyone down at the local is discussing Hildegard of Bingen and you need to stay credible? Worry no more.

Here's a concise list of books, CDs and suchlike to get you up to speed. Of necessity a personal choice, this selection may also be useful for Trivial Pursuit answers.

enough, already, just give me the web links...

HILDEGARD'S MUSIC

Music is, of necessity, an aquired taste - friends rave over things I hate and are then bored by stuff I put on to accompany a decent Ruby Cabernet. But in the main, if you don't like Hildegard's music, there's little point in delving much further into her life. To describe it as "like Gregorian Chant" is not only incorrect, but simply doesn't do it justice; this music can't easily be pinned down on paper, you have to hear it to make a jusgement. These are a few of my current favourite recordings.

"Sequentia" are currently re-recording everything Hildegard wrote. Of course, this means that some of the marginally more workmanlike pieces are included and my own opinion is that Sequentia's style has become more adventurous with the later recordings. For most people, they're the group to start with, but I'd recommend "Canticles of Ecstasy" (DHM 05472-77320-2)as a starting point, rather than the earlier "Feather on the Breath of God".

Anonymous 4 are great. And, if you want to wind your sedate grandmother up, you can always put "11,000 Virgins" (HMU 907200) on your gift list. In fact slightly less racy than its title suggests, these are chants for the feast of St Ursula, who was Hildegard's patron.

And to see how Hildegard's work relates to modern day "classical" composition, you might like to try "Celestial Light" (Ars Musica 0942-2, which has three settings, by the contemporary composer Robert Kyr, of works to which the music has been lost or, more probably, for which Hildegard never wrote music.

...and for the ultimate "Amaze your friends at parties", there's always Ordo Virtutum. It has been variously described as 'extraordinary' or 'a bit wierd, not for the faint of heart'. A passion or mystery play in chant and spoken voice - certainly not your "average" recording by any means. Check out a recording by Sequentia, DHM77051 and make up your own mind. Personally I love it. It's a double CD which currently lists at GBP19.99, and it's so obscure that you'll probably only find it on the shelves by accident or as the result of a cancelled order, so unless you know this is your cup of tea, probably worth checking it out at the local music library first, if you can.

ABOUT HILDEGARD

There's an awful lot of stuff about Hildegard out there. But, if I had to have just a couple of books on my bookshelf, I think on balance they'd be these two:
 
"Scarlet Music" (Crossroad, 0-8245-1646-X)
 
Jane O'Hanesson's book is evocative of the period and skillfully weaves a fictionalised biography together with translations of some of the visions to produce a coherent whole which is sympathetic and tender, whilst at the same time pulling few punches. Immersed in the book as I was, it brought me to gentle tears on a couple of occasions.
 
"The World of Hildegard of Bingen"
original German Edition, by Heinrich Schipperges, Herder, 3-451-26413-7
English translation by John Cumming, Burns and Oates/Novalis, 0-86012284-0)
 
This is a hardback providing, as the title suggests, the background to the world in which Hildegard lived as well as to her philosophy and the political and spiritual climate of the period. It's lavishly illustrated with many of the plates being reproductions of illuminations of Hildegard's work. A few of my own favourites are missing but equally there are good reproductions of others I hadn't seen before. If there's a better value for money collection, I'm not aware of it. I bought the German language version first and struggled through it (language tuition in the UK doesn't major on religious and philosophical words). Then I found an English translation. Whilst I think it's fair to say that I wouldn't have bought the German edition if I'd already had the English translation, I do prefer it.

HILDEGARD'S WORKS

Until recently, there have been few critical editions of Hildegard's work available and there are still few enough in English.
 
"Hildegard's Visions" (Bear & Company, 1-879181-29-0) is a fairly authoritative version of "Sci Vias Dei". Matthew Fox worked with the translator to cut the volume of what they felt were superfluous paragraphs, without precising any of the text which remains. Accepting that in a few places the definition of "superfluous" is perhaps a little selective, this is a marvellous approach, which allows one to read the text in as close to its original format as possible, without the book costing an arm and a leg or requiring a re-inforced bookcase.
 
The same approach is followed in "Hildegard's Divine Works" This also contains translations of many of the letters, as well as some music (which I notice is reporduced uncredited on certain sites on the web.
 
Both are worth having. If I had to choose just one, personally I'd go for the "Visions;", although the "Works" contains a wider range of material.

HILDEGARD ON THE WEB

Here are a few of the Hildegard-related links I've enjoyed on the web. If you find others which you like, please let me know:

"Lyrics in Latin and English", by Rupert Chapelle, has some images and some marvellous translations of Hildegrad's Lyrics.

For studies of her life and works, Id suggest starting with the sites created by Bonnie Duncan and Kristina Lerman.

There's an authoritative site at the Univerity of Mainz which also contains likns to the dioscese of Trier. Both are closely connected with the present-day study of Hildegard's life and work.