Quia felix puericia

Psalm antiphon for St. Rupert [May 15] (R 471r) by Hildegard of Bingen Back to Table of Contents

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.
• For a discography of this piece, see the comprehensive list by Pierre-F. Roberge: Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) - A discography