VIGIL
1.Antiphon: Auctori vite psalmis Invitatory: Venite exsultemus domino		8:51
2.Symphonia virginum: O dulcissime amator (Hildegard of Bingen)	9:23
3.Hymn: Jesu corona virginum Ahrweil Antiphoner (13th c.)	248
4.Responsory: Spiritui sancto (Hildegard of Bingen)	6:51
5.Versicle: Specie tua (Karlsruhe LX)	0:25
6.Responsory: Favus distillans (Hildegard of Bingen)	6:51
7.Benedicamus domino (Engelberg 314 (14th c.))	0:54

LAUDS
8.Antiphon: Studium divinitatis (Hildegard of Bingen )	1:12
9.Psalm 92: Dominus regnavit / Studium divinitatis Ahrweil Antiphoner	3:27
10.Sequence: O Ecclesia (Hildegard of Bingen)	10:09
11.Benedicamus domino (Engelberg 314)	0:53

VESPERS
12.Chapter: Domine deus meus (Berlin 40046 (13th c.))	0:51
13.Brief Responsory: Mirabilis deus (Karlsruhe LX)	1:10
14.Hymn: Cum vox sanguinis (Hildegard of Bingen)	8:09
15.Antiphon: O rubor sanguinis (Hildegard of Bingen)	1:38
16.Canticle: Magnificat anima mea / O rubor sanguinis (Ahrweil Antiphoner)	5:01
17.Hymn: Te lucis ante terminum (Ahrweil Antiphoner)	2:03
18.Benedicamus domino (Worcester F. 160 (13th c.))	0:47

From my early childhood, before my bones, nerves, and veins were fully strengthened, I have always seen this vision in my soul, even to the present time, when I am more than seventy years old. ...The light that I see thus is not spatial, but it is far, far brighter than a cloud that carries thesun. . . . and I call it “the reflection of the living Light”. . . and I see, hear, and know all at once, and as if in an instant I learn what I know. But what I do not see, I do not know, for I am not educated, but I have simply been taught how to read. And what I write is what I see and hear in the vision. . . . And the words in this vision are not like words uttered by the mouth of man, but like a shimmering flame, or a cloud floating in a clear sky." —Hildegard of Bingen, letter to Guibert of Gembloux (1175)

Of the innumerable composers of sacred music before the fourteenth century, only a handful of names have come down to us. It is no small irony,then, that one of the most important is a “poor little woman” (as she called herself), untutored in music, and for whom musical composition was only one small part of a life of mystical experience and miraculous creativity.

From her memoirs and voluminous correspondence, we know a good deal about Hildegard’s life. She was born to noble parents in 1098 in Bermersheim, near Mainz, Germany. She was their tenth child and was dedicated to the church as a tithe—a decision influenced, perhaps, by her poor health and strange visions. At the age of eight she entered a small convent associated with the monastery of St. Disibod near Bingen on the Rhine; and there, under the tutelage of the anchoress Jutta of Spanheim, in her mid-teens, she took her vows. The little convent grew and flourished under Benedictine rule, and when Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard succeeded her as magistra, or leader. It was five years later, at the age of forty-three, that Hildegard saw a vision of tongues of flame, signifying to her that she should write down and share her spiritual experiences, thus beginning her career as mystic, writer, and poet-composer. In 1147, her first writings, describing her visions, came to the attention of the Benedictine reformer and preacher Bernard of Clairvaux and his friend, Pope Eugenius III, both of whom affirmed her gift as prophetess and mystic. Her fame increased, and with it the number of postulants at the convent of St. Disibod. Hildegard proposed to found a new convent at Rupertsberg, a little distance away. The monks of St. Disibod were reluctant to lose the famous Hildegard and her sisters, and Hildegard struggled through numerous difficulties—including a paralyzing illness—before the issue was resolved and the new convent completed in 1150. By 1165, the Rupertsberg convent had so prospered that Hildegard founded a daughter house at Eibingen, just across the Rhine.

In the meantime, with the help of her teacher and confidant, the monk Volmar, Hildegard finished her first visionary work, Scivias, in 1151, and began her scientific encyclopedia in two parts: a book of herbal medicine, called Physica, and a book of compound medicine, Causae et curae. Hildegard was well-known in her day as an herbalist and healer, and her knowledge and veneration of the natural world are evident in her poetry, with its frequent symbolic use of plants, animals, and gems. Between 1150 and 1160, Hildegard also composed and edited her collection of poetical-musical works, the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations). Two more books eventually followed in this trilogy of visions, as well as hundreds of letters, exegetical works, homilies, saints’ lives, and a glossary of a secret language (her Lingua ignota). Amid all this she found the time and strength, after the age of sixty, to travel and preach throughout Germany. Her long life was filled with controversy and struggle, ending only with her death at Rupertsberg on 17 September 1179 at the age of eighty-one. Although attempts to have her canonized in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were unsuccessful, she is nevertheless honored as a saint in the Roman martyrology. The Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum consists of seventy-seven poems with monophonic music, making up a liturgical cycle for specific feasts or feast classes. There are thirty-four antiphons, fourteen responsories, and three hymns for use in the daily round of psalm and prayer called the Divine Office. There are also five sequences, a Kyrie and an Alleluia verse for the Mass, and several other devotional works. The Symphonia was no doubt intended for the nuns of her convent, though some of its works were commissioned by or sent to monastic men as well. Hildegard claimed to have received these pieces directly in her visions, declaring herself to be a mere vessel or mouthpiece for the divine word. But no matter how they were generated, the absolutely integral relationship of text and music in all these works, their daring use of imagery, and the artful freedom of melodic formula and gesture are truly inspired and are a testament to her genius. Hildegard was not “learned” in the manner of her scholarly brethren, bred on logic and patristic writings. Her intellect fed on the Bible—especially the Psalms and the Song of Songs—and on liturgical language; from these she drew her boldly juxtaposed images and rhapsodic style. In an age of regularly scanned and rhymed religious verse, Hildegard’s poetry is unfettered and unpredictable with melodies characterized by wide, unprepared leaps, ornate melismas, and modal irregularities. Certain typical melodic formulas recur again and again, but the strong bond between text and music—as well as ingenious (or inspired) variation and recombination—transforms these formulas into a hypnotic web of sound. Although scholars have found some similarities to the works of earlier poet-musicians, Hildegard’s style is truly individual and had no direct ancestors or descendants. —Susan Hellauer , anonymous4.com

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01. Columba Aspexit
02. Ave, Generosa
03. O Ignis Spiritus
04. O Jerusalem
05. O Euchari
06. O Viridissima Virga
07. O Presul Vere Civitatis
08. O Ecclesia

Emma Kirkby - soprano
Gothic Voices
Christopher Page – director

Hymns and sequences by the remarkable Abbess Hildegard of Bingen are recorded under the direction of Christopher Page, with Emma Kirby and others.T wo of the eight pieces are solos while most are choral and a few have the support of a symphony as well. The title is indeed approprate for this sacred vocal music. ---Rovi

This was the 1981 disc, from Christopher Page’s pioneering Gothic Voices group and the incomparably pure-voiced Emma Kirkby, that launched interest in the medieval visionary and composer Hildegard von Bingen. It remains the Hyperion label’s best-selling recording and helped generate a stream of medieval music recordings in the following decade.

While later groups made a feature of the ecstatic, rhythmically fluid nature of the music, Gothic Voices chose to perform the hymns and sequences with great simplicity, alternating a single voice with unison voices over drones. Bingen’s spellbinding melodies are clear and meditative, achieving a rare, high beauty whose integrity has proved timeless. --- classical-music.com

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1. O vis eternitatis, response  (8:05)
2. Hodie aperuit nobis (Nunc aperuit nobis), antiphon  (1:52)
3. Quia ergo femina, antiphon  (1:50)
4. Cum processit, antiphon  (6:40)
5. Ave Maria, O auctrix, response  (9:03)
6. Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita, antiphon  (2:16)
7. O ignis spiritus Paraclitus, sequence  (6:25)
8. Karitas habundat (Caritas abundat), antiphon  (2:16)
9. Alleluia, O virga mediatrix, alleluia antiphon  (2:28)
10. O viridissima virga, antiphon  (3:53)
11. O viridissima virga, Ave
12. O pastor animarum, antiphon  (1:27)
13. O tu suavissima, response  (11:23)
14. O choruscans lux stellarum, antiphon  (2:41)
15. O nobilissima viriditas, response for the virgins  (6:42)

Laurie Monahan [Mezzo-Soprano Vocals]
Sequentia (Early music ensemble)

Sequentia’s Hildegard von Bingen Project: Initially in collaboration with the West German Radio Cologne (WDR Köln) Sequentia made a series of recordings of the complete works of Germany’s most important medieval composer, the abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179).

After a break in the project of 10 years, this CD of Hildegard’s symphoniae to Maria, the Spirit, and the Ecclesiastical Community coincided with the worldwide interest in ‘Chant’ and spiritual song. Bagby and Thornton were joined by 7 female vocalists (including the magnificent vocalists Lena Susanne Norin and Laurie Monahan) and fiddlers Elizabeth Gaver (a new core member of the ensemble) and Elisabetta de Mircovich. This CD was awarded an Edison Prize, a French ‘Disque d’Or’, and received Grammy nomination as best choral recording of 1993. Over 500.000 copies were sold worldwide, and its success spawned a large number of imitations. Thanks to this phenomenon, Sequentia signed a multi-CD contract with BMG Classics – including the complete works of Hildegard – and was to remain furiously busy with recording over the next five years. ---sequentia.org

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1.- Columba aspexit (Sequentia de Sancto Maximino)       play
2.- Ave generosa (Ymnus de Sancta Maria)
3.- O ignis spiritus (Sequentia de Spiritu Sancto)
4.- O Ierusalem (De sancto Ruperto)
5.- O Euchari (De sancto Euchario Sequentia)
6.- O viridissima virga (De sancta Maria)
7.- O presul yere civitas (Sequentia de Sancto Dysibodo)
8.- O Ecclesia (De Undecim Milibus Virginibus)           play

Emma Kirkby (soprano), 
Gothic Voices,
Christopher Page - director

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis) (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, German Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama. Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard, particularly her music. Between 70 and 80 compositions have survived, which is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers. Hildegard left behind over 100 letters, 72 songs, seventy poems, and 9 books. One of her better known works, Ordo Virtutum (Play of the Virtues), is a morality play. It is unsure when some of Hildegard’s compositions were composed, though the Ordo Virtutum is thought to have been composed as early as 1151. The morality play consists of monophonic melodies for the Anima (human soul) and 16 Virtues. There is also one speaking part for the Devil. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, while Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima and the Virtues.

In addition to the Ordo Virtutum Hildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum. The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard’s own text and range from antiphons, hymns, sequences, to responsories. Her music is described as monophonic; that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line. Hildegard's compositional style is characterized by soaring melodies, often well outside of the normal range of chant at the time. Additionally, scholars such as Margot Fassler and Marianna Richert Pfau describe Hildegard's music as highly melismatic, often with recurrent melodic units, and also note her close attention to the relationship between music and text, which was a rare occurrence in monastic chant of the twelfth century. Hildegard of Bingen’s songs are left open for rhythmic interpreation because of the use of neumes without a staff.[28] The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard of Bingen and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints.

Hildegarda z Bingen, niem. Hildegard von Bingen (ur. 16 września 1098 w Rupertsberg k. Bingen nad Renem, zm. 17 września 1179 w klasztorze Rupertsberg – frankońska anachoretka, wizjonerka, mistyczka, i uzdrowicielka. Reformatorka religijna, benedyktynka (od 1136 przeorysza), uznawana przez Kościół katolicki za świętą. Pierwsza kompozytorka, której biografia jest kompletna i dobrze udokumentowana.

Według Hildegardy, muzyka była czystym wspomnieniem raju, gdzie Adam wraz z aniołami śpiewał psalmy na cześć stwórcy. Uważała, ze śpiew powinien być nieodłączną częścią liturgii, gdyż był równie ważny jak modlitwa i przybliżał człowieka do zbawienia. Wierzyła, że twórcze natchnienie pochodzi wprost od Boga, i dzieło artysty jest w rzeczywistości boskim przekazem. Wierna własnym nakazom, skomponowała moralitet i liczne pieśni religijne (ale nie liturgiczne). W odróżnieniu od typowych wówczas śpiewów chorałowych, jej melodie były znacznie bardziej emocjonalne. W ostatnich dekadach XX wieku muzyka Hildegardy zyskała ogromną popularność.

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Symphoniae to Saint Rupert

Dendermonde St. Peters & Paulusabdij, ms. Codex 9 & Hessische Landesbibliothek, HS. 2 (aka Rupertsberger "Riesenkodex"):

1.    Sequence to St. Rupert: O Ierusalem
2.    Antiphon to St. Rupert: Quia felix pueritia - Magnificat - Quia felix pueritia
3.    Antiphon to St. Rupert: O felix apparitio
4.    O beatissime Ruperte								play

Consecratio Virginum: the mystical marriage

5.    Instrumental piece
6.    Antiphon and Versicle to Maria: O tu illustrata
7.    Antiphon to Maria: Cum erubuerint					play

The Sacred Wedding

8.    O frondens virga - Gloria patri
       Hymn: Ave generosa
9.    Antiphon to Maria: O quam preciosa

Hildegard's relationship to men of the spirit

10.    Hymn to Holy Spirit: O ignee spiritus
11.    Instrumental piece
12.    Antiphon to Maria: O quam, magnam miraculam est

Performers: 
Sequentia - Barbara Thornton & Benjamin Bagby, directors:
1) Vox feminae [Barbara Thornton, Gundula Anders, Pamela Dellal, Elizabeth Glen, Heather Knuthson, Nancy Mayer, Lucia Pahn, Consuelo Sañudo,
 Carol Schlaikjer, Janet Youngdahl] - Barbara Thornton, dir.
2) Sons of Thunder [Benjamin Bagby, Stephen Grant, Peter Halpern, Eric Mentzel, Peter Schmitz, Bernhard Schneider] - Benjamin Bagby, dir.
3) Instrumental ensemble [Elizabeth Gaver (medieval fiddles), Benjamin Bagby (medieval harp, portative organ, organistrum),
 Na'ama Lion (medieval flute)] - Elizabeth Gaver, dir.

Abbess Hildegard of Bingen composed only seven pieces of music in the prolix medieval genre of the sequence, yet each splendidly adorns her oeuvre like the rough-hewn gems encrusting a Gothic Bible. One of Hildegard's most glitteringly expansive sequences is the piece for St. Rupert, O Jerusalem aurea civitatis. Ninth century Viking invaders had pulled down the walls of St. Rupert's church on the Rhine; Hildegard took her nuns and rebuilt the monastery in the year 1150. Not only, then, did she have a personal interest in the reputation of the saint, her sequence itself may thus be tied to the specific occasion of the new monastery's dedication. Its text climaxes in references to the "living stones" of which the new Jerusalem is built, an image alluding to the Catholic hymn for the dedication of a church, Urbs beata Jerusalem. In addition, as Christopher Page has noted, the poetess may have been drawing the comparison between her monastery and the Holy City of Jerusalem itself, destroyed by the Romans yet awaiting its rebuilding in heaven.

Both music and text of O Jerusalem build, step by step and stone upon stone, to a soaring architectural climax. Both open at daybreak, as it were, with the textual image of dawn breaking on the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is set to three repetitions of an understated chant melody, low in its plagal range. In the next stanzas, the poetess superimposes the dawn of Rupert's earthly boyhood with an image of him, sanctified, shining in the gems of the Holy city; he cannot be "hidden by the fools" who sacked his first church. At this time, the melody dramatically opens into the aspirant upper reaches of its unusual mode. The allusive collage continues in the next group of stanzas, as the poetic imagery blossoms into a series of references to Rupert's "true showing" (showing his relics), to the nubile flowers of the Song of Songs, and to pagan dances transformed to angelic dance; the melody now ranges widely through its compass. The climax arrives as Hildegard describes the living stones, the Christians upon which the new Jerusalem is founded despite their sinful and earthly nature. As dawn breaks upon this city, Hildegard's melody breaks its bounds and expands upwards into the "authentic" mode; as the lowly humans are transformed, the music itself mutates. May God and St. Rupert allow those who trust in them so to ascend to blessedness. ---Timothy Dickey, Rovi

Another flawless Sequentia contribution to the complete works of Hildegard, this set uses the 10 minute title piece, written for the dedication of a church, to lay the cornerstone for a series of liturgical songs which might have been appropriate to such an occasion. As the church bells ring to set the stage for the recorded fantasia, the lovely choir begins and carries straight through a roller coaster of gems, occasionally colored by a spare but powerful addition of period instruments throughout, fiddle, harp, organ, flute. Characteristic Hildegard themes of the miraculous, holy virginity and its fruits amplify and adorn songs regarding the new church's patron Saint Rupert and his virtues, a duke's son and ascetic who died at 20. Sequentia's combination of vibrant performance and informed but creative reconstruction perfectly matches the spirit of the bold medieval composer and abbess Hildegard, as she in turn linked her own charisms to Rupert. The total effect is like a rare telescope look into a distant spiritual terrain, and quite absorbing. --- Billyjack D'Urberville, amazon.com

This recording received a 1998 "Critic's Choice" award from Gramophone magazine. "Sequentia’s ten high voices come into their own, interpreting Hildegard’s soaring melodies with imagination and verve. . . . [W]hat an enjoyable programme they have produced, sung with flow and conviction! The bells of Bamberg Cathedral introduce it all on a festive note, which matches their own to perfection, and if we do not actually find ourselves transported on to the Rupertsberg itself, we have at least got as far as St Panteleon of Cologne." -- Mary Berry, Gramophone

O JERUSALEM follows Hildegard's continued devotion to the Benedictine order, and principally to St. Rupert and the Virgin Mary. 'O Jerusalem' is not your standard liturgical music, however. It is a dedication ceremony, celebrating the establishment of Rupertsberg, a church to serve von Bingen's sisters in the Benedictine order. The composer's hard work for the church, along with her music and writings, are the only surviving testament to St. Rupert's life and works. The solemn majesty of the music is hard to miss: Slowly chiming church bells over a hauntingly beautiful chorus at the beginning of 'O Jerusalem' set the tone. Yet despite its seriousness, there is a joyful energy within. This sense pervades the piece, giving the music a buoyant quality within its medieval mode. --- arkivmusic.com

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1.  Favus distillans
2.  Et ideo puelle iste
3.  O rubor sanguinis
4.  Rex noster promptus est
5.  Deus enim in prima muliere presignavit
6.  De patria etiam earum
7.  Sed diabolus in invidia sua
8.  Nune gaudeant materna viscera Eclessie   
9.  O clarissima mater
10. Cum processit
11. O frondens virga
12. O quam preciosa
13. Ave Maria
14. Ave generosa
15. Unde quocumque venientes 

Sinfonye:  
Vivien Ellis, Jocelyn West, Stevie Wishart, Sara Stowe and
Oxford Girls Choir: 
Emily Levy, Julie Murphy, Victoria Couper, Lucy Steele, Camilla Scarlett
Hester Briant, Fiona Cunningham, Tara Franks, Louise Eekelar, Katharine Taylor

Toddington Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, Inglaterra [1995]

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01. Hymn: Veni creator spiritus
02. Sequence: Veni spiritus eternorum
03. Antiphon: O quam mirabilis est
04. Vision 1: The fire of creation I - Et ego homo
05. Vision 1: The fire of creation II - Et audivi
06. Sequence: O ignis spiritus paracliti
07. Vision 2: Wisdom and her sisters I - Vidi etiam
08. Vision 2: Wisdom and her sisters II - Prima autem
09. Responsory: O felix anima
10. Vision 3: The fiery spirit I - Iterumque vocem
11. Vision 3: The fiery spirit II - Et imago
12. Hymn: O ignee spiritus
13. Vision 4: Love I - In vera
14. Vision 4: Love II - Et audivi vocem
15. Antiphon: Caritas habundat in omnia
16. Antiphon: O eterne deus
17. Hymn: Beata nobis gaudia

Anonymous 4 (Ensemble)

There is a large period between the fall of Rome and the late Middle Ages from which the names of artists, musicians and many other thinkers of note are lost to us. Thus it is of great interest when we have works that can be ascribed to a particular personality, and of further interest when that individual's history is well documented. Such is the case with Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century German abbess who wrote extensively on medicine and natural history, counseled kings, popes, and emperors, composed music, and had visions.

The Origin of Fire combines four of Hildegard's works with excerpts from her visionary texts set to what Susan Hellauer, in her notes on the program, calls "recitation tones" -- invitatory tones from the service of Matins and festive lection tones, settings from the Mass and Divine Office, the program begun and ended with two Pentecost hymns, Veni creator spiritus and Beata nobis gaudia. Fire, to Hildegard, was emblematic of the Holy Spirit. Fire and light, for that matter, were major images in her visions (which have led some to believe that she may have suffered from migraine, the "heavenly light" of her visions being interpreted as pre-migraine aura.) Whatever their origin (and the visions don't really require an explanation), the total effect is one of a deeply transcendant experience, with an undeniable reality that somehow defies adequate description.

To anyone with more than a passing acquaintance with medieval chant and plainsong of the Gregorian variety or later, Hildegard's music is striking. She was not a trained musician and claimed that she received her compositions whole, words and music together. Whatever the source, they are identifiably different from most other examples of the period. The key seems to be the texts, which are flowing and vivid; there is nothing radical about the melodies themselves, but the perfect melding of the two elements gives a strong sense of these works having been through composed, providing a deep unity both within and throughout.

What is remarkable about this recording, aside from the obvious talent and sensitivity of the performers, is the erudition of their approach, as evidenced by their discussion in the accompanying booklet of Hildegard and the music performed, and its complete transparency in the performance. (There is even a note on the way medieval Latin was pronounced in Germany.) For the most part, the works are monophonic plainsong; those instances where the performers have introduced polyphony are all the more striking set against this spare texture. The final experience is seamless and extraordinarily beautiful, deeply peaceful but showing a quiet intensity that captures the listener's attention. (The booklet is up to Harmonia Mundi's usual standard: substantial, with texts and essays in English, French and German, and beautifully illustrated with images from Hildegard's "Scivias" from a facsimile of the Codex Rupertsberg.)

Anonymous 4 (Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Jacqueline Horner, and Johanna Maria Rose) are, as much as anyone and more than most, responsible for bringing Hildegard of Bingen to the awareness of a modern audience. Origin of Fire, regrettably, marks their last recording, at least for the foreseeable future: after a career spanning slightly more than a decade and a series of recordings spanning a millenium, the group is taking a break. One can only hope that the break will be brief. --- Robert M. Tilendis, greenmanreview.com

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01 - O rubor sanguinis (Antiphon to St. Ursula) voice
02 - Favus Distillans (Responsory to St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins) 
voices, fiddle, symphonia
03 - Laus Trinitati (Antiphon in Praise of the Trinity) voice
04 - In Matutinis Laudibus (Office for the Feast of St. Ursula)
05 - O Ecclesia (Free Sequence to St. Ursula) voice, chorus
06 - Instrumental Piece based on 'O viridissima virga' (Elizabeth Gaver) 
fiddle, organ, symphonia
07 - O aeterne Deus (Antiphon to God the Father) voice
08 - O dulcissime amator (Symphonia of the virgins) voices
09 - Rex noster promptus est (Responsory to the Innocent) 
voices, organistrum
10 - O cruor sanguinis (Antiphon) voice
11 - Cum vox sanguinis (Hymn to St. Ursula) voices
12 - Instrumental Piece based on the D-modes of Hildegard (Elizabeth Gaver) 
fiddle, organ
13 - O virgo Ecclesia (Antiphon for Ecclesia) voices, organistrum 
Instrumental Piece (Elizabeth Gaver) fiddle
14 - Nunc gaudeant materna (Antiphon to Ecclesia) voices
15 - O orzchis Ecclesia (Antiphon to Ecclesia) voices

Performers: 
Barbara Thornton (voice, portative organ); 
Elizabeth Glen, Janet Youngdahl, Carol Schlaikjer, Nancy Mayer, Pamela Dellal, 
Heather Knutson, Lucia Pahn, Conseulo Sañudo, Gundula Anders (voices); 
Elizabeth Gaver (fiddle), 
Joachim Kühn (organistrum, symphonia)

Sequentia’s Hildegard von Bingen Project: Initially in collaboration with the West German Radio Cologne (WDR Köln) Sequentia made a series of recordings of the complete works of Germany’s most important medieval composer, the abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179). In celebration of the legend of the noble martyr, Saint Ursula, and her 11,000 virgin companions, who were murdered in Cologne by the barbarian soldiers when they refused to renounce their Christianity. The cult of this Virgin Martyr spread widely and was well-known to monastic women. Here, Sequentia’s ensemble of ten women’s voices, directed by Barbara Thornton, in joined by fiddler Elizabeth Gaver. This is the only Sequentia recording in which Benjamin Bagby did not participate. ---sequentia.org

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1 	Caritas 	17:01
2 	De Sancta Maria 	4:31
3 	O Virtus Sapientiae 	6:06
4 	O Cruor Sanguinis 	14:50
5 	Kyrie 	4:39
6 	O Quam Mirabilis 	19:12

Katharina Lienhart – vocals
Christoph Maria Moosmann – organ

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard Von Bingen, particularly her music. Between 70 and 80 compositions have survived, which is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers. Selections of Saint Hildegard's sacred music is performed here by Katharina Lienhart (voice) and Christoph Maria Moosmann (organ). Newly remastered. --- Editorial Reviews, amazon.com

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1.    O quam mirabilis est
2.    O pulchrae facies
3.    O virga ac diadema purpurae regis
4.    Instrumentalstück
5.    O clarissima Mater
6.    Instrumentalstück
7.    Spiritui Sancto honor sit
8.    O virtus sapientiae					play
9.    O lucidissima Apostolorum turba
10.    Instrumentalstück
11.    O successores fortissimi leonis		play
12.    O vos, felices radices
13.    Instrumentalstück
14.    Vos flores rosarum

Performer: 
Barbara Thornton (vocals),  Margriet Tindemans (viola da gamba) & Sequentia:
Benjamin Bagby – vocals, harp
Agnethe Christensen – vocals, harp, fiddle
Elizabeth Gaver – vocals, medieval  fiddle
Katarina Livljanić – vocals
Lena Susanne Norin – vocals.

Sequentia’s Hildegard von Bingen Project: Initially in collaboration with the West German Radio Cologne (WDR Köln) Sequentia made a series of recordings of the complete works of Germany’s most important medieval composer, the abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179).

After recording the music drama, Ordo Virtutum, Sequentia went on to make a first recording of the abbess’s symphoniae, spiritual songs which were probably sung in the liturgy of her convent on the Rupertsberg in the late 12th century. A group of nine female vocalists under Barbara Thornton’s direction is complemented by five instrumentalists in this recording made over a period of a year, in two different medieval German churches. --- sequentia.org

Sequentia is one of the world’s most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music. It is an international group of singers and instrumentalists – united in Paris under the direction of the legendary performer and teacher Benjamin Bagby – for performances and recordings of Western European music from the period before 1300. The size and disposition of the ensemble is determined by the repertoire being performed, and ranges between an instrumental/vocal duo to a large vocal ensemble. Based on meticulous research, intensive rehearsal and long gestation, Sequentia’s virtuosic performances are compelling, surprising in their immediacy, and strike the listener with a timeless emotional connection to our own past musical cultures. --- sequentia.org

Symphoniae is a reissue of the 1985 Sequentia LP Symphoniae: Spiritual Songs, an epochal recording that did much to set off the whole Hildegard boom -- if one can use that word to describe the audiences for music by a medieval German abbess. It is largely the work of Sequentia co-director Barbara Thornton, who died in 1998; her creative partner Benjamin Bagby is heard on harps and on other instruments. She sings solo and leads small groups of other female singers. "Symphoniae" was a word Hildegard herself applied to a collection of her own music.

For those who have gone on to investigate other treatments of Hildegard's music, ranging from hyper-authentic to new age inspirational, it will be good to check in with the musicians who were really the first to spot the tremendous relevance of this woman-centered chant. And for those who are looking for a good place to start with Hildegard of Bingen, this disc is still easy to recommend. In both music and liner notes it gives a feel for the key traits of Hildegard's music: its wide, sudden melodic swings, its rhapsodic quality, the unusual locutions and involved, imaginative metaphors in her poetry, and some great imagery that could almost have come out of 1970s feminist literature. In the words of one commentator, Hildegard "used extremes of register as if to bring heaven and earth together," and Sequentia's singers pick up this momentum effectively. A responsory in praise of St. Ursula and her 11,000 martyred Virgins (actually, there may have been only 11) has become especially well known in the years since this album was released. Many of the pieces praise saints and other figures from Christian history and liturgy (often women), and some become mystical in their intensity.

Musically the album takes liberties with what is known of medieval performance practice, but not to an objectionable degree. Some of the chants are sung solo, other responsorially between soloist and choir in the usual manner. On some pieces the performers add vocal harmonies according to the principles of medieval organum singing, something not notated by Hildegard but certainly in the air in her time and place. There are also several pieces done instrumentally, and some of the chants are accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble. The reason often given (and alluded to here) is that Hildegard's writings mention musical instruments as a link to the divine. It's a stretch from that idea to the instrumental accompaniment of music that is usually heard for voices alone, but the results here are lovely. For everyone from medievalists to ordinary mystics, Symphoniae offers worthwhile listening. --- James Manheim, allmusic.com

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