O Euchari columba

Responsory for St. Eucharius [Dec. 8] (R 475vb-R 476ra) by Hildegard of Bingen Back to Table of Contents

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

Footnotes

^[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). ↩