De patria etiam earum et
de aliis regionibus
viri religiosi
et sapientes ipsis adiuncti sunt,
qui eas in virginea custodia servabant
et qui eis in omnibus ministrabant.
And from their country,
and from other places, too,
men wise
and of religion joined up with them,
to keep them safe with virgin guard
and serve them in all things.
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
D mode
Range: G below final to E a ninth above
Setting: Syllabic and neumatic
This is a relatively straightforward short antiphon in D mode. All of the phrases are neatly outlined by the final. Hildegard begins the first four lines with a linked D to A motif. Readers will note that I have placed the et that falls between lines one and two of the transcription on line one in order to preserve the rhetorical repetition.
While we generally do not make recommendations for ficta in the transcriptions in their current/literal renditions of the source, it is worth noting the Bb on line four. Dendermonde does not sign the flat, but it appears in R. The presence of the flat creates a tritone, which is forbidden. The E might be an error, but it appears in both manuscripts. Singers would have two options - leave the E and sing B natural, or change E to D and sing Bb. While there is an F in the downward progression from the B, the melody continues in an upward direction to complete the singing of the word sapientes.
The differentia in R does not contain pitches.
Further Resources for Unde quocumque
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 236 and 309-11.
Berschin, Walter. “Eine Offiziendichtung in der Symphonia Hildegards von Bingen: Ursula und die Elftausend Jungfrauen (carm. 44).” In Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art. Ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke. London: The Warburg Institute, 1998, pp. 157-62.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Reading Hildegard of Bingen’s Antiphons for the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne: Rhetorical ductus and Liturgical Rubrics.” Nottingham Medieval Studies 56 (2012), pp. 174-89.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
Unde quocumque venientes
perrexerunt, velut cum gaudio
celestis paradisi suscepte sunt,
quia in religione morum
honorifice apparuerunt.
So no matter where they went,
as with the joy
of heaven’s paradise they were received,
for their religious life
was their honor.
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
A mode in Dendermonde
D and A modes in Riesenkodex
Range in Dendermonde: One pitch below the final to an octave above
Range in Riesenkodex: Depends on how one interprets the shift from opening D to concluding A.
Setting: syllabic and neumatic
Because the sources present two very different versions of this piece, we have created two transcriptions. In Dendermonde, the final is A, and there are some Bb’s, which could indicate a transposition - or not, as Hildegard’s use of A and C as modal finals is not straightforward. In Riesenkodex, the antiphon begins with D but ascends in the second line to encompass A as the final. Phrase breaks in the transcriptions are made after A and after E. Dendermonde includes two versions of the differentia.
Further Resources for Unde quocumque
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 236 and 309-11.
Berschin, Walter. “Eine Offiziendichtung in der Symphonia Hildegards von Bingen: Ursula und die Elftausend Jungfrauen (carm. 44).” In Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art. Ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke. London: The Warburg Institute, 1998, pp. 157-62.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Reading Hildegard of Bingen’s Antiphons for the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne: Rhetorical ductus and Liturgical Rubrics.” Nottingham Medieval Studies 56 (2012), pp. 174-89.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
Studium divinitatis
in laudibus excelsis osculum pacis
Ursule virgini
cum turba sua in omnibus populis dedit.
The zeal of divinity
gave with heaven’s praise the kiss of peace
to Ursula the virgin
and her brood among all peoples.
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
The following recording by Anonymous 4 sets the antiphon together with Psalm 92) (video 36:28-41:05):
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
E mode
Range: D below the final to C above
Setting: syllabic
In this short antiphon, Hildegard employs E as the primary grammatical marker. However, the outlining of phrases with the final is not as tightly organized as it is in other works. For example, the first phrase ends on G. We considered using studium divinitatis as the first phrase, with in laudibus beginning the second on B, the usual secondary tonal grammatical pitch in this mode. That solution, however, would result in other, more unusual notes as phrase punctuators. Thus, what we have is a mixture of E, G and A as punctuation devices.
Consequently, the phrasing in the transcription splits the word sense in some cases. Alternatively, the first two lines of the transcription can be understood as one single phrase, with E marking the beginning and the end on the word pacis. I split the phrase after the G on laudibus so that the next line could begin on A, an acceptable tonal marker for Hildegard in E mode.
Musically, the most appropriate first line could end with divinitatis, in which the next line could begin with B, also an accepted tonal marker, and continue on to conclude on pacis. This would make a long phrase to sing, and to make the transcription readable would have to be split into two lines at any rate. Similarly, the last two lines can be conceived as a single phrase, again a long one. In singing, depending on how the performers interpret the phrasing, pauses for breath, if needed, could be either very quick or more determinate in terms of punctuating the long phrases.
Further Resources for Studium divinitatis
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 236 and 309-11.
Berschin, Walter. “Eine Offiziendichtung in der Symphonia Hildegards von Bingen: Ursula und die Elftausend Jungfrauen (carm. 44).” In Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art. Ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke. London: The Warburg Institute, 1998, pp. 157-62.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Reading Hildegard of Bingen’s Antiphons for the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne: Rhetorical ductus and Liturgical Rubrics.” Nottingham Medieval Studies 56 (2012), pp. 174-89.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
R. Favus distillans
Ursula virgo fuit, que
Agnum Dei amplecti desideravit,
mel et lac sub lingua eius:
R. Quia
pomiferum hortum et
flores florum in
turba virginum
ad se collegit.
V. Unde in nobilissima aurora
gaude, filia Syon.
R. Quia
pomiferum hortum et
flores florum in
turba virginum
ad se collegit.
Gloria Patri et Filio
et Spiritui sancto.
R. Quia pomiferum hortum
et flores florum
in turba virginum
ad se collegit.
R. A dripping honeycomb
was the virgin Ursula,
who yearned to embrace the Lamb of God,
the honey and milk beneath her tongue:
R. Because
a garden bearing fruits,
the flowers’ blooms,
she gathered round,
a virgins’ brood.
V. So in the noblest dawn
rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
R. Because
a garden bearing fruits,
the flowers’ blooms,
she gathered round,
a virgins’ brood.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit.
R. For a garden bearing fruits,
the flowers’ blooms,
she gathered round,
a virgins’ brood.
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 features images gleaned from the Song of Songs 4:11-13:
Favus distillans labia tua, sponsa; mel et lac sub lingua tua: et odor vestimentorum tuorum sicut odor thuris. Hortus conclusus soror mea, sponsa, hortus conclusus, fons signatus. Emissiones tuae paradisus malorum punicorum, cum pomorum fructibus.
Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense. My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up. Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard.
This mode is surprisingly rare in Hildegard’s works, given its rich contemporary elaboration in Cistercian circles (e.g. St. Bernard of Clairvaux). The relative lack of bridal mysticism in her oeuvre (though see O dulcissime amator) may in fact reveal a more traditional grounding in the liturgical uses of the Song of Songs, whose verses had been adapted into the antiphons and responsories for Marian feasts. Song of Songs 4:11 (Favus distillans etc.) was, for example, commonly used as an antiphon for the Assumption (August 15). As with O rubor sanguinis, this responsory also echoes several of Hildegard’s own compositions for the Virgin. In particular, the Son’s dawn light gleaming amid the virginal flower recalls Hodie aperuit nobis and strophe 6a of O virga ac diadema.
The final strophe of that sequence likewise shows us that both the Virgin Mary and the virgin Ursula have a mission to “collect” or “gather” faithful followers for Christ. This is, of course, also the mission of the Virgin Mother Church, who becomes the explicit figure for Ursula and her companions in the sequence, O Ecclesia. Ursula’s “virgins’ brood” (turba virginum) is thus also linked with the band of apostles (apostolorum turba) in O lucidissima. Because this responsory would have been sung at Matins, it sets the stage for the narrative series of eight antiphons Hildegard composed for Lauds (Symphonia 63), to highlight the evangelizing element of their mission.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
A mode
Range: E below the final to A an octave above the final
Setting: neumatic with several longer melismas
In this piece, Hildegard begins and ends most phrases with the final. Alternatively, some conclude on E or G, and the repetendum, curiously, begins on G. The salutation also departs from Hildegard’s typical practice of beginning and ending on the final, with the last note on favus distillans being E. It is possible to consider that opening phrase as more of a prelude than a salutation, with the real address being the extended phrase: Ursula virgo fuit que Agnum Dei amplecti desideravit. Moreover, the first return to the final comes on the conjunction que, with Agnum beginning the next phrase with a three-note span to the fifth. The musical syntax thus departs from the textual syntax, in which the conjunction que should begin the subordinate clause. As per our project principles, we allow the musical grammar to guide our textual editing. In this case, the result is to emphasize the Agnum Dei, the Lamb of God.
Beginning with line 4 on page 1 of the transcription and interrupted by the setting of quia, and then continuing onto page 2, there are 6 phrases that open with the leap from A to E. Repeated gestures on openings are typical of Hildegard, but this one is notable for so many in a row. The conjunction et (and) at the end of the last line on page one is set to E and is placed with the phrase pomiferum hortum rather than at the beginning of the next line. While the tendency in modern English might be to group “and” with the second clause, in Latin, word order is less significant – and here the music really seems to dictate the phrasing we have chosen. Otherwise the rhetorical repetition is diluted, as is the intended emphasis on key words.
There are inconsistencies in the notes assigned to the first word of the repetendum, quia. I have transcribed them literally as they appear in each manuscript, which gives only this word as the indicator for the response. The R version of this that appears on page 1, which is later also repeated in D, is probably the one intended.
The first phrase in the verse that follows the first repeat can be conceived either as Unde in nobilissima or Unde nobilissima aurora. Because aurora begins on E and is therefore not outlined by the final, the second interpretation makes sense. I did not add a tick barline to the transcription here but rather leave it to singers to decide how they like it.
One last thing: this transcription was done a number of years before the start of this project and some of the conventions that I used then have been changed. In particular, technological hurdles have hindered the replacement of ossia staves with smaller notations of manuscript differences.
Further Resources for Favus distillans
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 234 and 309.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
Antiphon in evangelio, likely for the Magnificat at First Vespers for St. UrsulaBack to Table of Contents and the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne (D 167r, R 471vb), by Hildegard of Bingen
O rubor sanguinis,
qui de excelso illo fluxisti
quod divinitas tetigit: tu flos es
quem hyems de flatu serpentis
numquam lesit.
O bloody red
that flowed from up that height
divinity has touched: a bloom you are
that winter with the serpent’s blast
has never marred.
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 starkly imagistic antiphon makes no specific reference to the story of St. Ursula and her companions. Instead, it describes their identities as virgin martyrs with a web of symbolic connections that mark it as a peculiarly Hildegardian piece. The specific redness (rubor) of the martyr’s blood flowing into flower recalls the redolent rosebuds of her antiphon for martyrs from the Scivias symphony, Vos flores rosarum. But it is the additional, virginal dimensions that give this antiphon its unique spin. Fittingly for an antiphon paired with the Magnificat, this piece’s bloom echoes clearly that of the Virgin Mary, especially from the short antiphon Hodie aperuit nobis, where her flower blooms to open the gate “choked” (suffocavit) by the serpent. In the antiphon above, Hildegard keeps the metaphor a little bit more contained by imbuing the serpent’s hiss with the cold, withering winter wind. But that hiss will still be choked (suffocatum est) by the “pearls” of Ursula and her companions—their virginal bodies—in the last verse of the sequence, O Ecclesia.
Echoes and reflections of Hildegard’s pieces to the Virgin suffuse many of the pieces in her Office for St. Ursula, to the point where the individual early medieval noblewoman named Ursula—if she ever even existed—is subsumed beneath the symbolic waves of her blood (to invoke another image from Vos flores rosarum). In both her virginity and her martyrdom, she becomes so utterly identified with, at turns, Mary, the Church, and Christ, that Ursula herself disappears behind the mask of one caught up in the drama of salvation.
One of the roles she plays in that drama, hinted at through verbal echo alone in this antiphon, is is that of prophetic witness. The “height [that] divinity has touched” (de excelso…quod divinitas tetigit) is, in its clearest signification, the Father’s heart from which the Word sprang forth, first creating and then incarnate, as described in the Marian antiphon, O splendidissima gemma. But the phrase also echoes “the mysteries of the mountain that touched heaven” (mistica montis qui celum tetigit) from the antiphon for the prophets and patriarchs, O spectabiles viri. The opening verses of Hildegard’s hymn for the Office of St. Ursula, Cum vox sanguinis, make the connection more explicit, for there the voice of Ursula’s blood resounds in heaven, and “ancient prophecy” (antiqua prophetia) responds to accept its drenching sacred touch. Her blood is revelatory.
The pathway along which Ursula is sublimated into a universal, unveiling archetype in salvation history is here the pathway along which her blood’s redness flows all the way up to divinity’s height. But it is also a pathway that flows back down, to allow other individual actors to be joined into her archetype. For Hildegard, Ursula’s power as a virgin-martyr is exemplary, and as such, one that can be shared. It is then no surprise to notice that Ursula’s power is often Hildegard’s own—as a virgin flower, she withstands the wintry blasts of the devil’s devices, in order that her voice too might proclaim the divinity’s mysteries.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
D mode
Range: C below the final to F and octave and a third above
Setting: syllabic with one long melisma
This short piece is fairly straightforward. Hildegard employs both the modal final and A, the secondary significant tone in this mode, as grammatical markers. She begins the last phrase on D, but numquam. is outlined by B and A. Differences between the sources are minimal.
Further Resources for O rubor sanguinis
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 232 and 309.
Berschin, Walter. “Eine Offiziendichtung in der Symphonia Hildegards von Bingen: Ursula und die Elftausend Jungfrauen (carm. 44).” In Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art. Ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke. London: The Warburg Institute, 1998, pp. 157-62.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Flynn, William. “Reading Hildegard of Bingen’s Antiphons for the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne: Rhetorical ductus and Liturgical Rubrics.” Nottingham Medieval Studies 56 (2012), pp. 174-89, at 177, 180, and 182.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
Responsory at First Vespers for St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgin-Martyrs of Cologne (D 167r, R 471v) by Hildegard of BingenBack to Table of Contents
R. Spiritui sancto
honor sit, qui in mente Ursule
virginis virginalem turbam
velut columbas collegit.
Unde ipsa patriam suam sicut Abraham reliquit.
R. Et etiam propter amplexionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi
abstraxit.
V. Nam iste castissimus et aureus exercitus
in virgineo crine mare transivit.
O quis umquam talia audivit?
R. Et etiam propter amplexionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi
abstraxit.
Gloria Patri et Filio
et Spiritui sancto.
R. Et etiam propter amplexionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi
abstraxit.
R. Honor to the Holy Spirit,
who in the Virgin Ursula’s mind
a virginal brood has gathered
like doves.
So too she’s left her homeland like another Abraham.
R. And to embrace the Lamb,
a husband’s troth
she has cast off.
V. For that golden troop so chaste
has crossed the sea with virgin tresses.
O who has ever heard of such a thing?
R. And to embrace the Lamb,
a husband’s troth
she has cast off.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit.
R. And to embrace the Lamb,
a husband’s troth
she has cast off.
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
As this responsory tracks Ursula’s virginal mission, we glimpse some of the ways in which Hildegard configured her early medieval model in order to track her own life’s journey. The repetendum affirms the central choice that defines the virgin’s office: the rejection of a human husband in exchange for betrothal to Christ (cf. verse 6 of O dulcissime amator). But for Ursula, the rejection of her arranged marriage was only the beginning of an inspired plan to bear witness to the glory of her true Bridegroom—a witness paid in blood in several other pieces of this Office. Hildegard, too, understood the community of virgins gathered around her as a prophetic mission inspired by the Spirit and the Living Light. Moreover, in the verse, she allusively parallels her choice to move her community from the Disibodenberg to the Rupertsberg with Ursula and her companions’ sea-borne pilgrimage from Britain to Rome. When in her last years Hildegard recalled the difficulties that accompanied that move, she explicitly compared herself to Moses leading the children of Israel across the Red Sea.[1] Furthermore, as Newman notes (Symphonia, p. 308), the “virgin tresses” (in virgineo crine) may perhaps refer to the distinctive way Hildegard’s nuns wore their hair on high feast days, like that of St. Ursula (see the Commetary to O nobilissima viriditas).
Yet alongside the Exodus allusion of the “golden army” crossing the sea, Hildegard explicitly names Abraham as the model for Ursula’s pilgrimage. This is because Abraham serves also as a model of the virgin’s renunciation of the lusts of the flesh in several of Hildegard’s later writings. In another autobiographical passage collected into her Vita, she notes, “Abraham, however, was given increase, because, being obedient to God, he strove with all his might against the clamourings of the flesh.”[2] Likewise, she draws a typological connection between circumcision (which she says represents “the spiritual life”) and Christ’s virginal humanity in the Liber Divinorum Operum 3.2.8: “For as the dawn comes before the sun, so in the sign of circumcision, in which he ground away lust, Abraham preceded the Son of God’s humanity.”[3] These late parallels bolster William Flynn’s argument for dating Hildegard’s office for St. Ursula to the last decade of her life.[4] Finally, in the opening verse of its great hymn, Cum vox sanguinis, Hildegard’s invokes Abraham as a prophet-visionary of the Trinity (through the Three Visitors at the Oak of Mamre in Genesis 18), among a whole line of Old Testament types that merge Ursula’s martyrdom with Christ’s sacrifice and the heavenly banquet.
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
A mode
Range: E below the final to A an octave above
Setting: primarily neumatic with several melismas
Spiritui sancto opens with the salutation, while the second phrase begins with a similar melody and then diverges, reaching to the high A on the word, mente (“mind”). This same opening device appears throughout.
Most of the phrases are outlined by the modal final, A. Many of the phrases are quite long, so one would want to consider perhaps a tempo that would enable them to be sung on one breath. As is our practice, some are broken into two lines so as not to crowd the score, and a tick barline has been inserted to mark the end of the phrase. Whenever possible for long phrases, we try to break the line on E, which is the second most significant tone in the mode.
Most of the phrasing is fairly regular in this piece, though there is one interesting place in the verse where the musical grammar diverges from the textual syntax. On page 3 of the transcription, it makes sense to group o quis umquam talia audivit together (line 2). Musically, however, the phrase that begins on the first line should end, by the way Hildegard uses the tonal markers here, after “o” on line 2. I have inserted a tick barline as a guide.
The piece employs A as the final, but it is likely transposed, given the number of B flats that are signed in the sources. As usual, we only place flats where they are indicated in the sources, and so singers will need to make interpretive decisions. Given the way the flats are deployed differently in the manuscripts, it would appear that certain flats are intended to be continued until the end of a word or phrase. The same could apply to repeated melodic segments in which a flat was signed earlier.
Further Resources for Spiritui sancto
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 230 and 307-308.
Flanagan, Sabina. “Die Heiligen Hildegard, Elisabeth, Ursula und die elftausend Jungfrauen.” In Tiefe des Gotteswissens - Schönheit der Sprachgestalt bei Hildegard von Bingen. Ed. Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1995, pp. 209-22.
Flynn, William. “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne.” In The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. Ed. Jane Cartwright. University of Wales Press, 2016, pp. 93-118.
Walter, Peter. “Die Heiligen in der Dichtung der hl. Hildegard von Bingen.” In Hildegard von Bingen, 1179-1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen. Ed. Anton Ph. Brück. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979, pp. 211-37, at 223-29.
[1]Vita S. Hildegardis 2.5, trans. Anna Silvas in Hildegard & Jutta: The Biographical Sources (Brepols, 1998 / Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), pp. 164-65. ↩ [2]Vita S. Hildegardis 2.14, trans. Silvas, p. 176. ↩ [3] Hildegard of Bingen, The Book of Divine Works, trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell (Catholic University of America Press, 2018), p. 367; Liber diuinorum operum, ed. A. Derolez and P. Dronke (Brepols, 1996), p. 362. See also 3.4.10, trans. Campbell, p. 410; Latin text, p. 400. ↩ [4] William Flynn, “Hildegard (1098-1179) and the Virgin Martyrs of Cologne,” in The Cult of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, ed. Jane Cartwright (University of Wales Press, 2016), pp. 93-118. ↩
R. Rex noster promptus est
suscipere sanguinem innocentum.
Unde angeli concinunt et in laudibus sonant.
R. Sed nubes
super eundem sanguinem
plangunt.
V. Tirannus autem
in gravi somno mortis
propter maliciam suam suffocatus est.
R. Sed nubes
super eundem sanguinem
plangunt.
Gloria Patri et Filio
et Spiritui sancto.
R. Sed nubes
super eundem sanguinem
plangunt.
R. Our King is swift and ready to
receive the blood of innocents.
So sing the angels and with praise resound.
R. But yet—the clouds
this blood
bewail.
V. That tyrant still
was choked by death’s oppressive sleep
in punishment of his grave wickedness.
R. But yet—the clouds
this blood
bewail.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit.
R. But yet—the clouds
this blood
bewail.
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
“But yet—the clouds this blood bewail.” This responsory’s lyrical pathos comes in its repetendum, whose lengthy melisma on plangunt contains an echo of the phrasing for sanguinem in the opening responsorium. As Newman notes, the clouds here take up Rachel’s cry of lament for the blood of the innocent children shed by King Herod in Matt. 2:16-18 (Symphonia, p. 307). Characteristically, however, it is neither mother nor matriarch weeping for these children, but creation itself responding to the sacrilege—an idea rooted in the Bible’s first bloodshed, when God tells Cain, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). Thus, in explication of a verse from the opposite end of Scripture, about the martyrs (Rev. 6:11), Hildegard writes:
Those are called their fellow servants who are slain for the faith and for justice, while their brethren are those who will be consumed at the end of time by the Antichrist, like the infants consumed by Herod, who denied the Son of God, as too the Antichrist will deny him. For the voice of a person’s outpoured blood rises up through his soul to cry out and lament that it has been driven from the seal of the body in which God had placed it. Thereafter that soul receives the merit of its works, either in glory or in punishment. Blood’s first voice, indeed, raised up its cry to God in Abel, for Cain had foolishly and forcefully destroyed the structure of God’s work.
—Liber divinorum operum III.5.13[1]
Herod was a standard type for the Antichrist, but in her Gospel Homilies 10-13 (Expositiones Evangeliorum) on Matthew’s infancy narrative, Hildegard expands the allegorical scope to make him a figure of the Devil.[2] This, too, is the scope of the responsory’s contrast between God “our King” (rex noster) and Herod the “tyrant” (tirannus), for the fundamental error for both the Devil and Herod is the pride that denies the reality of God’s kingship and tyrannically tries to usurp God’s place. As Hildegard explains in explication of Matt. 2:18:
‘A voice in Ramah,’ namely of miseries, ‘was heard’ above, ‘wailing and much lamentation,’ that is, distress and sadness when Pride oppressed Innocence by striking it. ‘Rachel weeping for her children,’ evidently holiness, because the eyes of its knowledge brought forth weeping. She had lost ‘her children’ even as the children, who were supposed to possess an inheritance, were disinherited; but the innocent lamb demanded them back with his own blood.
—Gospel Homily 11 (p. 66)
To see with “the eyes of [holiness’] knowledge” is to recognize God’s true Light, to see reality for what it really is, and therefore truly to live. But to deny that light is to be plunged into darkness, confusion, and death—and this is how Hildegard characterizes Herod’s punishment, “choked by death’s oppressive sleep” (in gravi somno mortis […] suffocatus est). Elsewhere, Hildegard uses a similar phrase to describe the blindness of the Jews to Christ’s divinity, a blindness that would lead them to kill him just as Herod killed the innocents: “For the eyes of the Jews were heavy in the shadow of death [in umbra mortis grauati sunt]: when they heard the words of prophecy, they cast them aside with the true Flower whom the entire earth itself recognized when he breathed his last upon the cross” (Liber divinorum operum III.5.18). As the clouds mourn the spilt blood of the innocents, so too all the elements when touched by the Crucified’s, as in Hildegard’s antiphon, O cruor sanguinis.
Despite the dark violence that sheds it, innocent blood shimmers and sings in Hildegard’s view (cf. Cum vox sanguinis). Through the clouded grief shines the angelic light and its joyous song, for the Christmas peace shatters the tyrant’s power:
In that day when the angels sang of the peace given to humankind, my Son was born of a Virgin, magnified by the angels and glorified by the shepherds who were searching with pious devotion. And the fruit of the earth abounded—the earth to which peace had been restored and the air bestowed its sweetness; and theirs was the joy who among the sons of Jacob had been freed from evil’s past tribulation, for they had once been crushed with just judgment by many tribulations. Furthermore, when the light of true faith illumines the hearts of the faithful, my Son will be magnified in them, for they will believe that he came forth from me; and they will glorify him when they confess that he has returned to me in glory. So too for them will the fruit of good works be lifted high. Their joy will also be increased when they have been snatched from the devil’s power and freed from the punishments of hell, to be counted among the children of God.
—Liber divinorum operum III.5.18
Transcription and Music Notes by Beverly Lomer
E mode
Range: C below the final to E an octave above the final
Setting: primarily neumatic with some melismas
This short responsory is fairly straightforward in phrasing, in which the final E is the primary grammatical marker. Note that the salutation is extended to include promptus est, which ends on E. A tick barline has been placed at the end of that segment for clarification purposes.
There are a number of differences between the sources – some important, some less so. Two significant ones include the opening pitches, which are given as D in Riesenkodex. As the piece is clearly in the E mode, this should probably be considered as a scribal error.
The second has to do with the response, Sed nubes super eundem sanguinem plangunt. It begins on the pitch B, the commonly used secondary tone in this mode. Note that the two final iterations of the response, page 2, lines 3 and 6, of the transcription, show what appears to be an error in the Dendermonde manuscript. Sed begins on A, which is unlikely, as the response is always sung the same way. Riesenkodex gives it correctly.
As far as the other divergences, which are primarily related to different ornamental neumes and some pitch variances, whenever possible I have tried to avoid the ossia staves and notated the differences above the staff. However, some simple changes were still difficult to explain succinctly, hence the partial ossias.
Further Resources for Rex noster promptus est
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia, ed. Barbara Newman (Cornell Univ. Press, 1988 / 1998), pp. 226 and 307.
[1] Hildegard of Bingen, The Book of Divine Works, trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell (Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming 2018). ↩ [2] Hildegard of Bingen, Homilies on the Gospels, trans. Beverly Mayne Kienle (Cistercian Publications / Liturgical Press, 2011), pp. 62-74. ↩
