1a. Columba aspexit per cancellos
fenestre, ubi ante faciem eius
sudando sudavit balsamum
de lucido Maximino.
1b. Calor solis exarsit
et in tenebras resplenduit, unde gemma
surrexit in edificatione templi
purissimi cordis benivoli.
2a. Iste, turris excelsa
de ligno Libani
et cipresso facta,
iacincto et sardio ornata est,
urbs precellens
artes aliorum artificum.
2b. Ipse, velox cervus,
cucurrit ad fontem
purissime aque
fluentis de fortissimo lapide,
qui dulcia
aromata irrigavit.
3a. O pigmentarii,
qui estis in suavissima viriditate hortorum
regis, ascendentes in altum quando
sanctum sacrificium
in arietibus perfecistis:
3b. Inter vos fulget
hic artifex, paries templi, qui desideravit
alas aquile, osculando
nutricem Sapientiam
in gloriosa fecunditate Ecclesie.
4a. O Maximine, mons et vallis es,
et in utroque alta edificatio appares,
ubi capricornus cum elephante
exivit, et Sapientia in deliciis fuit.
4b. Tu es fortis et suavis
in cerimoniis et in choruscatione altaris,
ascendens ut fumus
aromatum ad columpnam laudis:
5. Ubi intercedis pro populo
qui tendit ad speculum lucis,
cui laus est in altis.
1a. A dove peered in through latticed
window pane, and there before its face
the balsam dripped, distilled
from glinting Maximin.
1b. The warmth of sun blazed up
and sparkled in the darkness—then a budding gem
sprang up within the temple’s court—
his kindly, cryst’lline heart.
2a. A lofty tower, he,
of Libanus’ wood
and cypress,
with jacinth and with ruby set—
a city finer crafted than
the work of other craftsmen.
2b. A stag so swift,
he raced to reach
the purest waters’ font
that flows from firmest stone
to water
spices sweet.
3a. O crafters of perfume, of chrism spice,
who dwell amidst the sweet viridity
of the garden of the King, you mount on high
when the holy sacrifice
you have performed with rams.
3b. Among you shines
this artisan—the temple’s wall who longed
for eagle’s wings to kiss
his nursemaid Wisdom
in Mother Church’s glorious fecundity.
4a. O Maximin, both mount and vale,
in each a lofty shelter you appear
where mountain goat and elephant
together tread, and Wisdom relishes.
4b. Both strong and sweet you are
in sacred rites, the altar’s radiance,
ascending like an incense cloud
unto the plinth of praise:
5. Where for the people now you intercede
who strive unto the mirror of that light
whose praise resounds on high!
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: C
Range: G below the final to D an octave and a second above
Setting: neumatic/syllabic
In this long sequence for St Maximin, Hildegard generally employs the final and the fifth (G) as grammatical phrase markers. As is typical, however, other tones are used, though only infrequently.
One of the identifying characteristics of the sequence form is the melodic parallels within the verses. Again, Hildegard follows this protocol overall while also diverging from it at several points—a key characteristic of her compositional style.
In the transcription, we have had to make choices as to how to phrase the parallel melodies, as in some cases it was possible to create long phrases that also displayed parallel melodies. Verses 2a and 2b especially stand out. We made the decision to break the lines into short phrases so as to showcase as much of the melodic similarity as possible. Performers can choose to follow this division or to combine two or more phrases. As always, we have no definitive idea as to what Hildegard’s actual intentions were or how her music was performed. Therefore, as Angela Mariani and Timothy McGee advise, our decisions reflect our own interpretations, and the guiding principle needs to be effective performance.
In two cases (page 4 of the transcription) the phrases are too long for one staff. Therefore, a tick barline has been placed at the end of the phrase. Lines 3 and 4 comprise one phrase, as do lines 8 and 9.
Further Resources for Columba aspexit
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 212-14 and 302-303.
1a. O Euchari, in leta via ambulasti
ubi cum Filio Dei mansisti,
illum tangendo et miracula
eius que fecit videndo.
1b. Tu eum perfecte amasti
cum sodales tui exterriti
erant, pro eo quod homines erant,
nec possibilitatem habebant
bona perfecte intueri.
2a. Tu autem in ardenti amore plene caritatis
illum amplexus es,
cum manipulos preceptorum eius
ad te collegisti.
2b. O Euchari, valde beatus fuisti
cum Verbum Dei te in igne columbe imbuit,
ubi tu quasi aurora illuminatus es,
et sic fundamentum ecclesie edificasti.
3a. Et in pectore tuo choruscat dies
in quo tria tabernacula
supra marmoream
columpnam stant in civitate Dei.
3b. Per os tuum Ecclesia
ruminat vetus et novum vinum,
videlicet poculum sanctitatis.
4a. Sed et in tua doctrina Ecclesia
effecta est racionalis,
ita quod supra montes clamavit
ut colles et ligna
se declinarent ac mamillas illius sugerent.
4b. Nunc in tua clara voce
Filium Dei ora pro hac turba,
ne in cerimoniis Dei deficiat,
sed ut vivens holocaustum
ante altare Dei fiat.
1a. O St. Eucharius, you walked upon the blessed way
when with the Son of God you stayed—
you touched the man
and saw the wonders that he did.
1b. You loved him perfectly
while your companions trembled,
frightened by their mere humanity,
they did not share the opportunity
to gaze entirely upon the good.
2a. But you embraced him in the ardent love
of fullest charity—
the bundles of his sweet commands
you gathered to yourself.
2b. O St. Eucharius, so deeply blessed you were
when God’s Word drenched you in the fire of the dove—
illumined like the dawn
you laid the Church’s foundation.
3a. And in your breast burst forth the light of day—
the gleam in which three tents
upon the marble pillar
stand within the City of our God.
3b. For through your mouth the Church can savor
the wine both old and new—
the cup of sanctity.
4a. Yet in your teaching, too, the Church
embraced her rationality—
her voice cried out above the peaks
to call the hills and woods
to be laid low and suck upon her breasts.
4b. Now in your crystal voice
pray to the Son of God for this community,
lest it should fail in serving God,
but rather as a living sacrifice
might burn before God’s altar.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Commentary: Themes and Theology by Nathaniel M. Campbell
This sequence is one of two pieces that Hildegard wrote to celebrate St. Eucharius, the first bishop of Trier (for an introduction to St. Eucharius, see the notes for her responsory, O Euchari columba). As with many of her other compositions dedicated to saints, however, this one often reflects Hildegard’s own personality more than that of the saints themselves. In verse 1b, it is Eucharius’ intense and perfect love and devotion to the person of Christ that frees him from the fearful limitations that his mortal companions experience in trying to look upon the highest Good—reflective, perhaps, of the child-like joy and freedom from anxiety that Hildegard often reported feeling when bathed by the experience of the Living Light.[1]
Verse 2b goes on to invoke several characteristically Hildegardian images and themes: Eucharius’ reception of the Holy Spirit’s dove-borne fire at Pentecost “drenches” (imbuit) him with the Word of God in the same way that Hildegard herself often described the flooding of her heart and mind with that same Word—both the second person of the Trinity and the Scriptures that were his revelation. That flooding fire then gleamed like the dawn—Hildegard’s favorite image for both the entrance of Christ’s light into the world in the Incarnation, the womb of his Virgin Mother in bearing that light of the sun, and the apostolic Mother Church’s mission to bring that light to all the world. Thus, Eucharius’ apostolic mission to lay the foundation of the Church in Trier is one of dawning light over the Mosel river.
Musical connections across the first two verses strengthen the Christological nature of his mission. The same melodic phrase is used for the words possibilitatem in Verse 1b (the ability to gaze upon Christ’s goodness) and ecclesie edificasti in Verse 2b (“you laid the Church’s [foundation]”). It was thus Eucharius' opportunity to see and experience the Son of God in the flesh that allowed him to be a founder of the Church. Similarly, the phrase cum verbum in the line 2 of Verse 2b departs from the parallel melody in Verse 2a and instead follows the melody of ubi cum filio from the second line of Verse 1a. The two phrases mirror each other in both meaning and music: Eucharius dwells with God’s Son in Verse 1a and then the Word of God imbues Eucharius with the fire of the dove in Verse 2a.
Hildegard’s symbolist mind, deeply imbued with every resonant image of Scripture impressed from years of monastic reading and prayer, leaps next from that dawn light to the light of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8) in verse 3a, recalling also the inability of Eucharius’ companions to gaze fully upon that dazzling light. The three tents that Peter offered to build for the Transfigured Christ and his two mystical companions, Moses and Elijah, now gleam not on Mt. Tabor but upon a pillar in the heavenly City of God—the momentary Transfiguration of the Gospel now itself transformed into the eternal glory of the ascended Christ.
This marble pillar with its three tabernacles also recalls two tri-cornered pillars that appeared upon the Edifice of Salvation that Hildegard described in Part 3 of Scivias: the Pillar of the Word of God (Vision 4) and the Pillar of the Trinity (Vision 7). The former, near the northern corner of the Edifice, is the color of steel “with edges sharp as a sword” facing East, North, and South, which represent “the beginning of the knowledge of God through the divine Law;” “the gospel of My Son;” and “the profound and rich wisdom of the principal teachers (doctores), who through the fire of the Holy Spirit made known what was obscure in the Law and the prophets, and showed their fruition in the Gospels,” respectively (Scivias 3.4.6).[2] Of the three phases of salvation history delineated by this pillar, St. Eucharius would have belonged to the radiance that Hildegard saw echoing from the northern to the southern edge, in which she “saw apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins, and many other saints, walking in great joy”—the faces between the flames on the right half of the pillar in the image accompanying this vision in the Rupertsberg manuscript. He may also have joined that final edge of teachers, as the sequence celebrates his teaching as the foundational endowment of the Church at Trier. As Hildegard again describes the doctores in whose company she is now numbered:
They touched on the outward content of the Scriptures in the work of the Father’s goodness, and sweetly ruminated on their mystical significance. (…) As the Gospel was spread, the wisdom of the saints broadened; they burned in the Holy Spirit, seeking It in depth so as to find through It the deepening of their understanding of the Word of God, strengthened by the faith of the Christian people. And so the sense of the Scriptures that went froth from the mouth of the holy teachers broadened too.
—Scivias 3.4.6 and .12
The second tri-cornered pillar appears at the west corner of the Edifice and represents the Trinity. The explication of this purple-black column with sharpened edges the color of steel relates the Trinity’s relationship to the course of salvation history and offers an extended and specific meditation on the apostolic mission of evangelization celebrated in this sequence devoted to the work of St. Eucharius. Each of this column’s razor-sharp edges cuts away a symbolic feature—dry straw, little wings, and decaying branches—that represent those who wander away from or reject the true knowledge of the Trinity—heretics, Jews, and pagans, respectively. The edges then become in ch. 7 the fire-producing flint-stone in an elaborate parable of God’s repeated mission of messengers and the violent, fiery punishment of those who dallied or failed. Of particular importance for today’s sequence in this parable’s explanation is the story it tells of Christ’s disciples and the early Church, ringing upon themes of fear and inadequacy, the coming of the Holy Spirit’s fire to remove that fear, and evangelization as the building of God’s city, founded upon his holy commandments:
But His disciples, while the Son was with them in the world in His body, were foolish and unknowing and unresponsive, slow to understand His words in the Spirit and to fulfill them in work. For they heard them only as in a dream; they were simple, timid and frightened, and had not yet been strengthened.
(…)
But after the Son of God had ascended to the Father, through the Son and according to His promise the Holy Spirit descended. (…) And because the apostles had been taught by the Son, the Holy Spirit bathed them in Its fire (in calore suo perfudit eos). (…) And the Holy Spirit took their human fear from them so ardently and so quickly that they became firm and not soft, and dead to all adversity that could befall them. (…)
And so, going forth, they made their way among the faithless people (…) and to these they announced the words of salvation and of the truth faith in Christ. (…) And they built the holy city of the commandments of God (sanctam civitatem praeceptorum Dei), thus rebuilding the city which that seducer the Devil had taken from them in Adam, and restored it to them in the faith that leads to salvation.
—Scivias 3.7.7
The ministries of “this holy city of the commandments of God”—the Church—occupy Hildegard’s attention in the last three verses of the sequence above. In verse 3b, Eucharius’ preaching of the Word of God is received by the Church, which then ruminates upon it—literally chewing upon the words of Scripture spoken from his mouth to receive nourishment. Hildegard then adapts the image of the old and new wines from Matthew 9:17 to the Old and New Testaments, to unite the scriptural Word of God with the eucharistic Word received in the holy chalice of communion.
The next verse reveals Hildegard’s awareness of the seasonal place of St. Eucharius’ feast day, which always falls within Advent, by adapting images drawn from the prophecies of Isaiah. In particular, she evokes the voice crying out in the wilderness and from a high mountain of Isaiah 40:1-9, promising the coming of God unto Jerusalem when “every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Is 40:4)—but now, as Barbara Newman notes, the hills and woods are laying down to suckle at the breast of Mother Church, “who nurses the world with the milk of doctrine, inverting the messianic promise of Isaiah 60:16” (Newman, Symphonia, p. 302). In teaching the fulfillment of that promise, St. Eucharius helped “the Church to be made rational” (Ecclesia effecta est racionalis), to embrace the Reason at the root of the Incarnate Word.
Finally, the sequence petitions Eucharius’ prayers for the community of monks that continues the ministry of the Church in Trier that he had established centuries before—a petition that their service before God’s altar should be quickened into the living, burning sacrifice of true worship. Drawing again from Hildegard’s discussion of the pillar of the Trinity:
When the old rituals failed and the new holiness arose, the worship of the Holy Trinity was most plainly proclaimed; for it was openly believed that the Heavenly Father sent His Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, into the world. And the Son sought the glory of His Father and not His own, and disclosed the profound consolation of the Holy Spirit, as had been foretold; and thus it was hidden on no side, but was proclaimed both to the faithful, who abode in God’s work, and to the unbelievers, who stood outside the faith.
—Scivias 3.7.2
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: E
Range: C below the final to E an octave above the final
Setting: syllabic with some pneumatic elements
In this sequence, Hildegard stays mainly true to the form of repeated melody on the versicles, but as is typical, she does sometimes stray from it, as well. The final E and the fifth serve as the primary tonal markers to begin and/or end phrases. She does also on occasion end phrases on G and open them with A; for example, see lines 4 and 5 on page one of the transcription.
Due to Hildegard’s approach to musical grammar, please consider the following phrasing options:
There is a tick barline after ambulasti on the second line of page 1 of the transcription, as some might prefer to create a longer phrase combining the first two lines as a single opening. It would be difficult to perform, perhaps; but a breath, not a full pause, could be taken after line one.
In 3a, there is a tick barline after dies on the first line of that verse. In quo begins similarly to ruminat on line two of verse 3b. Since beginning a phrase with an A/G figure has already been established, moving in quo to the next line makes sense. For purposes of clarity and not crowding the line, a barline has been employed rather than moving the notes to the following line.
Verses 4a and 4b are somewhat irregular. Because 4b uses the E/G figure regularly to open phrases, I have placed a tick barline after ecclesia on line two of 4a. This allows for the option to open the phrase either with A/G or with E/G.
This piece contains a number of compound neumes. Where the compound figure includes individually ligated neumes, slurs have been added. When there is a single pitch included with the compound neume, no slurs have been included, indicating most likely an articulation on the single note.
Further Resources for O Euchari in leta via
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 208-10 and 301-302.
[1] See especially her description of this in her famous letter 103r to Guibert of Gembloux, Letter 103r, trans. Baird and Ehrman, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, vol. 2 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), p. 24. ↩ [2] Translation adapted from Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (Paulist Press, 1990); Latin text ed. Führkötter and Carlevaris, CCCM 43a (Turnhout: Brepols, 1978). ↩
R. O Euchari, columba
virtutem illius
in signis tibi dedit,
qui olim in medio rote
clamitavit:
R. Quem cum amplius
corporaliter non vidisti,
plena signa in umbra illius
perfecisti.
V. Et sic in pectore eius fulsisti
ac in cherubin sigillum fecisti.
R. Quem cum amplius
corporaliter non vidisti,
plena signa in umbra illius
perfecisti.
R. O St. Eucharius, the Dove
has granted unto you the power
in wondrous signs of him
who once amidst the wheel
cried out:
R. No longer did you see him
him in the flesh,
yet in his shadow you fulfilled
his wondrous signs.
V. And so you gleamed within his heart
and set a seal upon the cherubim.
R. No longer did you see him
him in the flesh,
yet in his shadow you fulfilled
his wondrous signs.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Commentary: Themes and Theology by Nathaniel M. Campbell
This responsory, together with the sequences, O Euchari in leta via and Mathias sanctus, was likely inspired by Hildegard’s close working relationship with the monastery of St. Eucharius and St. Matthias in Trier. A former Roman colony and one of Germany’s oldest cities, Trier lies on the Mosel river, about 130 kilometers southeast of its confluence with the Rhine and about 100 kilometers southeast of Bingen. The monastery of St. Eucharius (which was rededicated in 1148 to St. Matthias) was an important center for the production and dissemination of copies of Hildegard’s works. Hildegard corresponded frequently with its abbots, and had a particularly close relationship with Abbot Ludwig, who provided her with assistance in the 1170s following the death her longtime secretary and provost, Volmar.[1]
Although the historical St. Eucharius likely founded the bishopric at Trier—the oldest in Germany—in the second half of the third century, medieval tradition held that he was, in fact, one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ commissioned in Luke 10 to spread the Gospel, and that he was dispatched by the Apostle Peter to evangelize Roman Gaul—for this reason, Hildegard could claim that Eucharius touched and saw the Lord in the flesh. In local lore, at least (as preserved in the late-medieval sequence, Almi colamus), it was thought that Eucharius was present at both the Last Supper and at Pentecost. He was believed to have founded the Church of St. John in the city, where he was first interred after his death on December 8; his relics were later transferred to the Abbey of St. Eucharius / St. Matthias, where they rest today.
These traditions help to illuminate the otherwise obscure imagery of this responsory. In particular, Hildegard seems to connect St. Eucharius with St. John the Evangelist. The Holy Spirit as dove appears in her antiphon for St. John, O speculum columbe, inspiring the Evangelist and visionary. Meanwhile, they both gleam (fulsisti here in the versicle; effulsisti in the responsory for St. John, O dulcis electe) because of their dearness to the Lord (recall that John is “the beloved disciple” who reclined at Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper—John 13:23). Finally, Hildegard invokes the mystical visionary language of Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim and the four wheels (Ezekiel 10), which were commonly understood (via their reappearance as the four living creatures in the fourth chapter of John’s Apocalypse) as symbols for the four Evangelists.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: E
Range: B below the final to G an octave and a third above
Setting: neumatic, melismatic
This piece is a responsory, but there are no specific indications in the source that delineates the verses and the response. There is only the capital E on the word Et on the second to last line of the transcription to tell us that this is in the form of a responsory.
This chant also displays a most unusual phrasing, departing from Hildegard’s use of the modal final and fifth as the primary grammatical markers in surprising ways. The issues begin on page 1, line 2 of the transcription. The first phrase, the salutation O euchari, is clearly outlined by the final E. Columba begins on D, an unusual choice. But it might be considered a connector note that signals that the entire first phrase/salutation should be O Euchari columba. One of the reasons for keeping line 2 as its own line is that line 5 starts with D and a similar melody.
Lines 3 and 4 on the same page might be considered one phrase, and a tick barline has been placed after line 4. The first two lines of page 2 present a somewhat similar situation. Quem cum amplius corporaliter begins and ends with the final, while the next phrase (non vidisti) begins on F before returning to the final. We have added a breath mark after amplius for ease of singing, but corporaliter should not be considered a separate phrase. Instead, it shares the melodic motif from the high D to the final used in the second half of page 1, line 5 (tibi dedit).
The final decisions here will be up to performers. If the tempo is quick it is possible to sing or play (on a wind instrument) long phrases, perhaps with catch breaths. The Otto Mueller Verlag square note edition makes different decisions on phrasing than we have done. In the end, as Angela Mariani, author of Innovation and Improvisation in the Performance of Medieval Music, advises, it is up to singers or instrumentalists to create a performance that works for them. Each one might be different.
Further Resources for O Euchari columba
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 206 and 300-301.
[1] For further details, see Nathaniel M. Campbell, “The Authorship and Function of the Chapter Summaries to Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber diuinorum operum,” The Journal of Medieval Latin 27:1 (2017), 69–106, at pp. 94-101 (accessible as PDF here). ↩
O Bonifaci, lux vivens vidit te
similem viro sapienti,
qui puros rivulos
ex Deo fluentes
ad Deum remisisti,
cum viriditatem florum rigasti,
unde es amicus Dei
viventis et cristallus lucens
in benivolentia rectarum viarum,
in quibus sapienter cucurristi.
O Boniface, the Living Light caught sight that you
were like a man of wisdom.
The purest streams
that flow from God
you rendered back to God
as you directed them upon the flowers’ viridity;
so dear you are to God—
Who Lives—a crystal gleaming with
the goodwill of the righteous paths
on which you wisely ran.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: A
Range: E below the final to C two octaves above
Setting: Syllabic with some pneumatic segments and a long melisma at the end
Textually, this piece opens with the salutation, O Bonifaci. However, the opening concludes, not with the final, but with the pitch D, a non-standard choice in this mode. The second phrase, lux vivens vidit te, does conclude on the final (A). The most probable interpretation of this unusual way of treating the opening in performance would be to make a small separation (less than a comma) at the end of the first line. The impression would be then that the phrase is to be carried on until the end of line 2 of the transcription. Another option, which I have indicated with a tick barline, would be to complete the phrase with the word lux, thus ending it on A. Although this is awkward in terms of the text, it would allow the musical phrase to begin and end on the final.
Otherwise the phrasing is fairly straightforward. On page 2 of the transcription, I separated lines 1-2, but added a tick barline, as another option might be to combine them. On the one hand, the opening pitches of line 2 (lucens) are consistent with line 6 (ad deum) on page 1. On the other hand, the combined phrase of lines 1-2 (viventis et cristallus lucens) is repeated with slight variations in line 4 (rectarum viarum) and in the final melisma (p. 2, line 6).
On page one, line three, I have placed a bracketed C. The source is not clear because the ink has faded. It may be a punctum on the space for C or possibly even B. It could also not be a note at all. I find the two C’s together to be unusual, and might prefer it to either be absent or be interpreted as B. Performers should use personal preference.
There are quite a few signed B flats, but they are inconsistently applied, which is typical of Hildegard’s work. They appear in several instances at the cadence points, but cadences involving the same pitches in other locations are not signed with a flat. I have catalogued them here:
Page 1
Line 2
B natural
Line 4
B natural
Line 5
B flat
Line 6
B flat
Line 7
B natural
Page 2
Line 1
B flat
Line 2
B natural
Line 4
B natural
Line 6
B flat
Line 7, final cadence
B natural
Note: The segment in the final cadence that descends from F to A mirrors the one on line 7 of page one, where the flat is signed.
Because medieval singers knew when to sing a flat, it was never necessary to sign each one. But Hildegard’s usage is peculiar, where the natural appears first on a similar figure. We cannot really know what she intended, and we must also keep in mind that the strategies and protocols we use in modern transcriptions come in part from the preferences, experiences, intuition etc. of the editor. Hildegard often played loosely with the forms of her music, so perhaps the inconsistencies–things we want to “correct”--are in fact intentional. We therefore urge performers to follow their own intuition to create an effective performance.
Notes on the Musical Rhetoric by Nathaniel M. Campbell
There are several melodic cells or phrases that Hildegard repeats with variation throughout this piece. Hildegard would use repeated motifs as both a practical tool to help with memorizing the melody and as a rhetorical device to connect ideas across the piece. Moreover, points where the musical and textual grammars are in tension with one another have a heightened rhetorical force.
As noted above, the phrase for ad Deum (p. 1, line 6) is repeated with an additional flourish on lucens (p. 2, line 2). This connects the water imagery of the first half of the piece with the light imagery in the second half and emphasizes the fact that the light with which Boniface gleams is God’s light itself, with Boniface serving as a crystal or lens through which both God’s light shines and we look back to God. That melodic cell is then embedded in the longer phrase of viventis et cristallus lucens (p. 2, lines 1-2), which is repeated with slight variations on rectarum viarum (p. 2, line 4) and in the final melisma on cucurristi (p. 2, line 6). This extends the point again by directing Boniface’s wisdom toward God both by water and by the pathways of righteousness.
Yet another melodic motif, which opens with the leap from the final to the fifth (A-E) and ascends to the octave a before settling back to E, ties together the qualities of Boniface’s wise sanctity. This phrase is used for cum viriditatem (“as [you directed them upon the flowers’] viridity”), in benivolentia (“with the goodwill”), and in quibus sapienter (“on which wisely [you ran]”). A variation of this motif also appears split across two phrases (the last two lines of the first page of the transcription), with the motif’s opening note of A on the final syllable of rigasti and the leap to the fifth (E) on the opening of the next phrase (unde es amicus Dei). The motif thus transgresses not only the textual grammar (as unde begins a new clause) but also seemingly the musical grammar (as rigasti returns its phrase to the final). Because the music resists a hard break between the sense units, I have changed Newman’s punctuation of the text to allow the relative adverb unde to connect the first and second halves of the antiphon more fluidly.
Furthermore Hildegard continues to transgress the textual grammar with the musical phrases in the lines that follow, as the adjective viventis (which begins a new musical phrase) is separated from the noun it modifies (Dei – “the living God”). A similar separation is repeated in the next line as cristallus returns to the final, leaving its adjective lucens as its own separate phrase. By highlighting the two adjectives, the musical rhetoric may be intended here to point back to the lux vivens (“Living Light”) at the opening of the piece. The overall effect is to collapse the separation between Boniface as God. The wise saint has become so holy in the path of righteousness that he becomes purely the medium through which God’s light passes undistorted.
Further Resources for O Bonifaci
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 204 and 300.
1a. Mathias, sanctus per electionem,
vir preliator per victoriam,
ante sanguinem Agni
electionem non habuit,
sed tardus in scientia fuit
quasi homo qui perfecte
non vigilat.
1b. Donum Dei illum excitavit, unde
ipse pre gaudio sicut gygas
in viribus suis surrexit,
quia Deus illum previdit
sicut hominem quem de limo
formavit cum primus angelus cecidit,
qui Deum negavit.
2a. Homo qui electionem vidit—
ve, ve, cecidit!
Boves et arietes habuit,
sed faciem suam ab eis retrorsum duxit
et illos dimisit.
2b. Unde foveam carbonum invasit,
et desideria
sua osculatus
in studio suo, illa sicut Olimpum
erexit.
3a. Tunc Mathias per electionem divinitatis
sicut gygas surrexit,
quia Deus illum posuit in locum
quem perditus homo noluit.
O mirabile miraculum quod sic in illo
resplenduit!
3b. Deus enim ipsum previdit in miraculis suis
cum nondum haberet
meritum operationis, sed misterium Dei
in illo gaudium habuit,
quod idem per institutionem suam
non habebat.
4a. O gaudium gaudiorum
quod Deus sic operatur,
cum nescienti homini gratiam suam impendit,
ita quod parvulus nescit ubi magnus volat,
cuius alas Deus
parvulo tribuit.
4b. Deus enim gustum in illo habet
qui seipsum nescit,
quia vox eius
ad Deum clamat sicut Mathias fecit,
qui dixit:
O Deus, Deus meus, qui me creasti, omnia
opera mea tua sunt.
5. Nunc ergo gaudeat omnis ecclesia
in Mathia, quem Deus in foramine
columbe sic elegit.
Amen.
1a. Matthias, chosen as a saint—
a warrior through victory—
yet not before the Lamb’s bloodshed
was he chosen,
but late to conscience came,
as starts the man who did not keep
the watch full wakefully.
1b. God’s gift shook him awake, and then
for joy he leapt,
a giant in his strength,
for God foresaw this man
just like that Man whom once from mud
he formed when first the angel fell
who God denied.
2a. That human saw his chance, his chosenness—
alas! He fell!
The oxen and the rams he had,
but from their sacrifice he turned his face
and sent them empty away.
2b. And so he wandered in the pit of coal,
his own desires raised—
sealed with a kiss—
with zeal he mounts
Olympus.
3a. And then Matthias—the Godhead’s choice—
arose, a giant,
for God set him into that place
that fallen man disdained.
O wonder of wonders that thus in him
shines forth!
3b. For God foresaw this man within his wonders—
he had not yet
the merit of his work, but God’s mysterious way
took joy in him,
though this was not what he
had planned.
4a. O joy of joys,
that God would so enact
to spend his grace upon a man who knew it not—
the little child knows not where the grown man flies,
yet to the little one
God gave his wings.
4b. For God enjoys the man
who thinks not of himself,
because his voice
cries out to God, as did Matthias
when he said:
“O God, my God, who didst create me, all
my works are thine.”
5. Therefore rejoice now, all the Church,
in St. Matthias, whom God chose
thus in the dove’s cleft rock.
Amen.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: C
Setting: primarily syllabic
Range: D below the final to C an octave above
Mathias sanctus has generally been categorized as a hymn, and it is listed that way in the Riesencodex manuscript (fol. 474vb). Hildegard scholars Barbara Newman and Margot Fassler, however, consider it to be a sequence. A medieval hymn contains verses that are sung to a single melody, while a sequence consists of paired versicles with matching melodies.
Hildegard’s treatment of both these genres is fluid, meaning that she both follows and departs from their standard conventions. In the case of Mathias sanctus, the paired verses (1a,1b etc.) are challenging to phrase. Longer phrases make for a more hymn-like format, but it is closer to a sequence when the phrases are short. There are also anomalous melodic segments that do not conform neatly to either pattern.
My first version of this piece aimed to phrase the verses as paired, as per the sequence form. While this worked in many cases, it ran into roadblocks, and it also created very short phrases that (to me) seemed out of character for Hildegard. In the end I made the decision to revise it with longer phrases, which aligns more with the format of the hymn. This is by no means a definitive interpretation, and performers should feel free to follow the transcription or break down some of the longer segments into shorter ones.
In her book, Innovation and Inventio in the Performance of Medieval Music, Angela Mariani discourages rigid adherence to formulaic interpretations of medieval song and encourages singers (and instrumentalists) to thoughtfully interpret the music, sometimes in innovative ways, so as to create a convincing performance. Her advice in the case of this hymn/sequence is pertinent. As the eminent musicologist Timothy McGee advises, we have no way of knowing what medieval music sounded like. In the case of Hildegard, phrasing usually follows certain patterns, such as the use of key modal tones and other gestures, but not always. There is much that is open to interpretation.
There are several other interesting features in this work. One is the use of a descending fifth as a phrase opener. Hildegard more typically employs the ascending fifth for this purpose. The other is that there are quite a lot of signed B flats in the source. Many of these occur when the melody transitions from C as the focal point to F, and often when B ascends to C. Though our editions do not add editorial ficta, in this case it is probably safe to say the flat should be added in identical melodic motives, even when it is not signed in the source. Also, it should be retained when the pitch B either repeats or there are two iterations of it in very close proximity. As is always the case with Hildegard’s C pieces, B is never flat in the upper register. G is also used as a phrase marker here, and of course, there is the odd phrase that begins on D.
Further Resources for Mathias sanctus
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 198-203 and 298-300.
Margot Fassler, “Volmar, Hildegard, and St. Matthias,” in Judith A. Peraino, ed., Medieval Music in Practice, Studies in Honor of Richard Crocker. Miscellanea 7 (Middleton, WI and Münster: American Institute of Musicology, 2013), pp. 85–109.
Quia felix puericia
in laudabili Ruperto
ad Deum anhelavit et mundum reliquit,
ideo ipse in celesti armonia
fulget et ideo etiam
angelica turba
Filium Dei laudando concinit.
It was a happy childhood
for praiseworthy St. Rupert,
that yearned for God and left the world behind,
and so in heav’nly harmony
he gleams, and so
th’ angelic band
resounds to praise the Son of God.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Note: The recording above pairs this antiphon with the Magnificat (the Gospel Canticle at Vespers).
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: E
Range: D below the final to E an octave above the final
Setting: syllabic and pneumatic
This is a short, straightforward antiphon in E mode. It is found only in the Riesencodex manuscript. The setting is not complicated, and it is one of the few songs in which Hildegard employs only the final and the fifth of the mode as grammatical devices. This means that she does not move the tonal center. Phrases are either outlined entirely by the final or the fifth (B), or they begin with one tone and end with the other.
Further Resources for Quia felix puericia
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 192-3 and 294-5.
Hildegard of Bingen, Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris; Vita santi Dysibodi episcopi. ed. Christopher P. Evans, Intro. and trans. Hugh Feiss, O.S.B. (Dallas Medieval Texts no. 11; Peeters, 2010), pp. 84-85.
1a. O Ierusalem, aurea civitas
ornata regis purpura:
lb. O edificatio summe bonitatis,
que es lux numquam obscurata:
1c. Tu enim es ornata
in aurora et in calore solis.
2a. O beata puericia
que rutilas in aurora,
et o laudabilis adolescentia
que ardes in sole.
2b. Nam tu, o nobilis Ruperte,
in his sicut gemma fulsisti,
unde non potes abscondi stultis hominibus
sicut nec mons valli celatur.
3a. Fenestre tue, Ierusalem,
cum topazio et saphiro
specialiter sunt decorate.
3b. In quibus dum fulges, o Ruperte,
non potes abscondi
tepidis moribus, sicut nec mons valli coronatus
rosis, liliis et purpura
in vera ostensione.
4a. O tener flos campi
et o dulcis viriditas pomi
et o sarcina sine medulla,
que non flectit pectora in crimina.
4b. O vas nobile,
quod non est pollutum
nec devoratum
in saltatione antique spelunce,
et quod non est maceratum
in vulneribus antiqui perditoris:
5. In te symphonizat Spiritus sanctus,
quia angelicis choris associaris
et quoniam in Filio Dei ornaris,
cum nullam maculam habes.
6. Quod vas decorum tu es, o Ruperte,
qui in puericia
et in adolescentia tua
ad Deum anhelasti in timore Dei
et in amplexione caritatis
et in suavissimo odore bonorum operum.
7. O Ierusalem,
fundamentum tuum positum est
cum torrentibus lapidibus,
quod est cum publicanis et peccatoribus
qui perdite oves erant,
sed per Filium Dei invente, ad te
cucurrerunt et in te positi sunt.
8. Deinde muri tui
fulminant vivis lapidibus,
qui per summum studium bone voluntatis
quasi nubes in celo volaverunt.
9. Et ita turres tue,
o Ierusalem, rutilant
et candent per ruborem
et per candorem sanctorum
et per omnia ornamenta Dei,
que tibi non desunt, o Ierusalem.
10. Unde vos, o ornati
et o coronati
qui habitatis in Ierusalem,
et o tu Ruperte,
qui es socius eorum
in hac habitatione,
succurrite nobis famulantibus
et in exilio laborantibus.
1a. Jerusalem, O golden city,
in royal purple clad:
1b. O edifice of Good supreme,
you are a light that’s never dimmed:
1c. For you are decked
with dawn and sunshine’s warmth.
2a. O childhood blest
that shines at dawn,
O honored youth
that burns in the sun.
2b. For you, O noble Rupert,
have gleamed in these like a gem,
so that you can’t be hid by fools,
as a mount cannot be covered by a vale.
3a. Your windows, O Jerusalem,
with topaz and sapphire
especially are set.
3b. As you, O Rupert, glint in them,
you can’t be hid
by lukewarm ways—as not the mountain by the vale,
with roses, lilies, purple crowned
to show the truth.
4a. O tender flower of the field,
O apple’s sweet viridity,
O weight without pith
that does not sink the heart to sin.
4b. O noble vessel,
neither dirtied
nor devoured
by the ancient cavern’s dance,
nor weakend by
the ancient wrecker’s wounds:
5. In you the Holy Spirit symphonizes,
for you’re joined to the angels’ choirs
and spotless now, adorned
for the Son of God.
6. How beautiful your vessel, O Rupert!
In childhood
and in youth
you yearned for God with fear,
embracing divine Love
with good works’ sweetest scent.
7. O Jerusalem,
your foundation’s set
with a waterfall of stones—
that is, with publicans and sinners,
the sheep that once were lost
but now are found by the Son of God—to you
they’ve flocked and now in you are set.
8. And now your walls,
they flash with living stones
that flew with good will’s highest zeal
like clouds across the sky.
9. And so your towers,
O Jerusalem,
glint red with their blood,
gleam white with the shine of the saints
and all the ornaments of God—
they’re yours forever, O Jeruslaem.
10. So you, adorned
and crowned
who dwell within Jerusalem,
and you, O Rupert,
their comrade in
this dwelling place—
come to our aid
as we in exile labor and attend.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
Mode: G
Range: D below the final to G an octave above
Setting: primarily syllabic
This lengthy sequence in honor of St. Rupert is set in the G mode, not a usual tonal center for Hildegard. Phrasing is open to interpretation in some cases, as Hildegard both adheres to the conventions of the sequence form and departs from them as well. In some instances, the verses open with similar melodic gestures, and in others, not so much. In some cases, the phrases end similarly, and this can serve as a guide as well. The intersection of the text and melody needs to be taken into account, but as neither the text or the melody is complicated, there can be more than one interpretation.
In the transcription there are several cases where the phrases are short, with a tick barline at the end of the second or third line. In these cases, both the shorter phrasing and the longer phrasing are acceptable options.
There is only a fragment of this work in Dendermonde, so the major part of the transcription is taken from Riesencodex.
Though we do not make editorial additions, such as ficta, there are several places where the melody moves from F to B and then ascends immediately to C. There are no signed flats, so one wonders if the intent is to sing or play the natural B. Performers will have to choose how to handle the tritone.
Further Resources for O Ierusalem
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 192-7 and 295-8.
Hildegard of Bingen, Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris; Vita santi Dysibodi episcopi. ed. Christopher P. Evans, Intro. and trans. Hugh Feiss, O.S.B. (Dallas Medieval Texts no. 11; Peeters, 2010), pp. 20-25 and 78-83.
Madeline H. Caviness, “Artist: ‘To See, Hear, and Know All at Once,’” in Barbara Newman, ed., Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 110–124, at 118-119.
Sabina Flanagan, Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179. A Visionary Life (2nd ed.; Routledge, 1998), pp. 121-5.
