(D 162v-163r, R 475v) by Hildegard of Bingen
| 1a. O presul vere civitatis, qui in templo angularis lapidis ascendens in celum, in terra prostratus fuisti propter Deum. lb. Tu, peregrinus a semine mundi, desiderasti exul fieri propter amorem Christi. 2a. O mons clause mentis, tu assidue pulcram faciem aperuisti in speculo columbe. 2b. Tu in absconso latuisti, inebriatus odore florum, per cancellos sanctorum emicans Deo. 3a. O culmen in clavibus celi, quod propter perspicuam vitam mundum vendidisti: hoc certamen, alme confessor, semper habes in Domino. 3b. In tua enim mente fons vivus clarissima luce purissimos rivulos eduxit per viam salutis. 4a. Tu magna turris ante altare summi Dei, et huius turris culmen obumbrasti per fumum aromatum. 4b. O Disibode, in tuo lumine per exempla puri soni membra mirifice laudis edificasti in duabus partibus per Filium hominis. 5a. In alto stas, non erubescens ante Deum vivum, et protegis viridi rore laudantes Deum ista voce. 5b. O dulcis vita et o beata perseverantia que in hoc beato Disibodo gloriosum lumen semper edificasti in celesti Ierusalem. 6a. Nunc sit laus Deo in forma pulcre tonsure viriliter operante. 6b. Et superni cives gaudeant de his qui eos hoc modo imitantur. |
1a. O prelate of the true City, in the temple of the cornerstone you mount up to heaven, on earth layed low for God. 1b. A stranger to the worldly seed, you yearned to be an exile for the love of Christ. 2a. O mountain of the cloistered mind, you patiently disclosed the beautiful face in the mirror of the dove. 2b. You retired in the hidden nook, entranced by the flowers’ perfume, glittering for God through the lattice of the saints. 3a. O vault for the keys of heaven, for the clear-eyed life you sold off the world— this contest, sweet confessor you keep forever in the Lord. 3b. For in your mind the living Fount with brightest light brought forth the clearest streams along salvation’s way. 4a. You are a mighty tower before supreme God’s altar—your tower’s top you’ve shrouded in an aromatic cloud. 4b. O Disibod, within your light and through your modelling of purest sound you’ve built up limbs of wondrous praise on either side by the Son of Man. 5a. You stand on high and unashamed before the living God: with verdant moisture you protect those praising God with such a voice. 5b. O life so sweet, O blessed perseverance: with blessed Disibod you’ve ever built a glorious light in Jerusalem above. 6a. Now God be praised in the tonsure’s beauty, working manfully! 6b. And let the citizens above rejoice for those who follow them in this way. |
Commentary: Themes and Theology
by Nathaniel M. Campbell
by Nathaniel M. Campbell
This sequence builds on the theological themes that Hildegard first articulated in the antiphon, O mirum admirandum, and the responsory, O viriditas digiti Dei, to imagine St. Disibod straddling the line between time (in which he was the historical founder of the Disibodenberg) and eternity (where he models sanctity for the monastic community from his place now in the heavenly Jerusalem). The first two strophe pairs focus on Disbod’s earthly life: he was “a stranger to the worldly seed” (1b) both as a monk vowed to chastity and as a bishop exiled from his see by political malcontents. After sojourning from Ireland, he settled as a hermit upon the mountain slopes of Disibodenberg—nestled among the aromatic herbs, his “hidden nook” left him open to mount to heaven in contemplation. The imagery of strophes 2a-2b, common to the antiphon and responsory, also draws on the Song of Songs, with the monk’s cell sharing it latticed window-panes with the Bride (Song of Songs 2:9), a dove nestled among the rocks (Song of Songs 2:14; the “mirror of the dove” is also an image for contemplation in Hildegard’s antiphon for St. John, O speculum columbe, and she alludes to it in her later responsory for St. Disibod, O felix anima). Strophes 3a-3b extend the imagery of Disibod’s hermitic contemplation, as the divine light suffuses his mind, flowing like the mountain streams that bring his monastic garden into bloom (cf. O viriditas digiti Dei).
Strophes 4a-4b then begin our transition from Disibod’s earthly monastic cell to his place in heaven, as his mountain home becomes a tower, its top enwreathed with swirls of incense and echoing with the chanted praises that formed the rhythm of his monastic life. As Barbara Newman notes (Symphonia, p. 293), the “two sides” (duabus partibus) allude to the two halves of the monastic choir, separated for singing in antiphony. The swirls of incense, moreover, are echoed in the intricacies of the musical parallelism in these two verse pairs. In the text above, I have broken up the lines to highlight the musical parallels between each verse: Tu magna turris (4a) is nearly same melody as O Disibode (4b), while ante altare summi Dei et huius turris (4a) is nearly the same melody as in tuo lumine per exempla puri soni (4b). The transcription, meanwhile, presents a different way of reading the musical grammar, with longer phrases framed by the final tone (C).
The remainder of the sequence then celebrates Disibod’s place standing on high (5a), his glittering mind shedding heavenly light from Jerusalem above (5b) to share with his monastic community below. That community, meanwhile, must strive to follow his example (per exempla puri soni, 4b; de his qui eos hoc modo imitantur, 6b), particularly through keeping up the monastic regimen of the Opus Dei, “the Work of God” of singing the liturgy of the hours each day. (See the commentary on O mirum admirandum for the role of Hildegard’s compositions for St. Disibod in admonishing reform of that monastic community.) Of particular note here is the intriguing grammatical ambiguity of strophe 6a: the final participle (operante) may be taken either in reference to God (Deo), indicating that God is at work in the beauty of the monastic tonsure (metonymy for the monastic life); or it may be taken in reference to the tonsure’s form (forma pulcre tonsure), indicating that God is praised through the manful work of the monastic life.
As with Hildegard’s equally showstopping sequence for St. Rupert, O Ierusalem, architectural metaphors dominate much of the piece. This may reflect Hildegard’s experience both with the near constant construction projects at the Disibodenberg as she was growing up (with the monastery church finally being completed and dedicated in the 1140s) and with rebuilding the ruins of the Rupertsberg as she moved her community there in the 1150s. As Barbara Newman has noted (Symphonia, p. 293), the theological background for the architectural imagery takes us back to 1 Peter 2, which is one of several New Testament passages that describe Christ as “the cornerstone” once rejected by the builders (1 Peter 2:7, citing Psalm 117[188]:22). From that the scriptural author articulates the idea of Christians “as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). In Hildegard’s hands, the living stones of Disibod’s celestial tower are the monks of his monastery, joining their songs of praise with his verdant voice in heaven.
Transcription and Music Notes
by Beverly Lomer
by Beverly Lomer
Mode: C
Range: E below the final to C an octave above
Setting: Primarily syllabic
This sequence for St. Disibod, the patron saint of the monastery at Disibodenberg where Hildegard began her religious life, consists of six, two-part verses. There is a difference in the verse order in the sources. In Dendermonde, after Verse 4a, it appears as though the scribe begins Verse 4b, with part of the setting of the words, O Disibode. What follows next is a different order than what appears in Riesenkodex: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 4b. The order in R is correct, and therefore, the transcription follows it.
The use of typical modal tones to demarcate phrases is not consistent in this song. All verses, except 2a and 2b, begin with C, the modal final. Typically, Hildegard also employs the final or the fifth to punctuate and hence identify phrases. Here, however, phrases open and close with alternative pitches. In verses 1a and 1b, for example, the sections open with C and then shift to A as the primary grammatical marker. As the sequence progresses, we see other tones, such as D and G, assuming the role of phrase punctuation. As always, determining phrasing in Hildegard’s works involves a negotiation between text and melody, and in this transcription, the melody sometimes gives way to text sense in phrasing.
In the sequence form, whose conventions Hildegard often does not strictly adhere to, the melodic lines (especially the first line) between and the a and b sections of each versicle are intended to match. In the transcription, we attempt generally to phrase in accordance with this protocol. However, there are exceptions. The length of the paired versicles is not always the same. In the first verse, the a section is longer. The salutation, O presul vere civitatis, should not be broken, and so the first line of the b section has been similarly phrased. There are parallel melodic segments that begin on E (1a: vere civitatis and 1b: a semine mundi), but to try to match all of that would involve making phrases too short and ‘choppy’ in many cases. Therefore, again referring to the example of Verse 1, the second phrase begins on A, the third on the E fragment, and then the last on the A melody. The reader will note that the basic melody is sometimes ornamented or elaborated. Therefore, the matching is not exact.
While we generally prioritize melody over text, in some cases doing so would have been too much of a disruption of the text. Because Hildegard was not always “metronomically” consistent in her construction of melody, text, and the melody/text alignment, phrasing is often negotiable. Performers using this score, as always, are welcome to make their own adjustments.
Hildegard’s C pieces (as well as her A pieces) are often considered to be transpositions, and this results in the appearance of Bb. As we have mentioned in our Commentary and Notes to other Symphonia songs, Hildegard’s treatment of the Bb is somewhat idiosyncratic. There are differences between the sources, and the signed flat often appears after iterations of B with no flat. Performers in that era knew when flats should be added, such as to prevent a tritone, and so they were not noted in some cases. In our transcriptions, though we do not add editorial ficta, performers should note that in the descents from F to B, a flat should be added. Flats might also be added for repeated gestures in which the Bb is signed. That said, there is often a question as to how long the flat should be retained. Keeping it to the end of the line (as in a transcription) is not a viable solution, as the manuscript sources do not identify phrases - the notes continue in a stream across the parchment folio. Finally, Hildegard’s Symphonia pieces never employ Bb in the upper register, so the B a seventh above the final will always be natural.
Further Resources for O presul vere civitatis
- Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 186-189 and 292-293.
- Leigh-Choate, Tova; Flynn, William T.; and Fassler, Margot E. “Hildegard as Musical Hagiographer: Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek MS. 103 and Her Songs for Saints Disibod and Ursula.” In A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen. Ed. Beverly Mayne Kienzle et al. (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2014), pp. 193-220.
- For a discography of this piece, see the comprehensive list by Pierre-F. Roberge: Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) - A discography
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