Anonymous 4: The Origin of Fire, Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen (APE)

Performer: Anonymous 4
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Size: 234 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

01. Hymn: Veni Creator Spiritus
02. Sequence: Veni Spiritus Eternorum Alme
03. Antiphon: O Quam Mirabilis Est
04. Vision 1 “The Fire Of Creation”: Et Ego Homo
05. Vision 1 “The Fire Of Creation”: Et Audivi
06. Sequence: O Ignis Spiritus Paracliti
07. Vision 2 “Wisdom And Her Sisters”: Vidi Etiam
08. Vision 2 “Wisdom And Her Sisters”: Prima Autem
09. Responsory: O Felix Anima
10. Vision 3 “The Fiery Spirit”: Iterumque Vocem
11. Vision 3 “The Fiery Spirit”: Et Imago
12. Hymn: O Ignee Spiritus
13. Vision 4 “Love”: In Vera
14. Vision 4 “Love”: Et Audivi Vocem
15. Antiphon: Caritas Habundant In Omnia
16. Antiphon: O Eterne Deus
17. Hymn: Beata Nobis Gaudia

Gorgeous!

Hildegard von Bingen is, in this listeners estimation, a very important composer in the Western canon. Some will say that this is simply because she put her name to work when so many contemporaries simply signed their work “anonymous.” Others will say it simply because she is one of the few women composers of merit that we have discovered, and therefore we exaggerate her importance out of some misplaced political correctness. I reject both these charges sometimes levied against her. I think her work is lasting for more reasons than this. Most scholars admit her importance, include her work in the canon, and she is taught in most University history of music classes.

First, it is important to remember that Hildegard was (and is) thoroughly Catholic. Her legacy sometimes gets usurped by those with other agendas. Hildegard was sent to the convent to get her education and to become a nun, given by her parents as a tithe.

As a young child she was sickly and had religious visions and episodes. The old Catholic encyclopedia refers to her as a “seeress and prophetess” and both descriptions seem apt. It is perhaps because of her visions that her parents gave her as a tithe.