Search - Hildegard of Bingen, Sinfonye, Stevie Wishart :: The Complete Hildegard von Bingen, Volume One: Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations

This first of four volumes of The Complete Hildegard von Bingen collection introduces listeners to a remarkable woman ahead of her time. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was born the tenth child to a noble family and was dedicated at birth to the church. At age three she began to have visions of luminous objects, but soon realized she was unique in this ability and kept these visions secret for many years. Hildegard's religious education, which began at the age of eight, consisted of an ascetic life of prayer and contemplation. At a time when few women were accorded respect, she lived to become a highly respected writer, poet, composer and visionary sought after for her counsel by bishops, popes and kings.At 38, she became the head of a vibrant convent where later her musical plays were performed. Music was extremely important to Hildegard as she considered it a way for mortals to experience heavenly, or spiritual ecstasy. According to Hildegard, before the Fall of Man, Adam had a pure voice and joined the angels in singing praises to God. After the Fall, music was invented and musical instruments were made in order to worship God appropriately. Perhaps this best explains why Hildegard's music most often sounds like what we imagine angels singing to be like.Recorded in the nineteenth century church at Toddington, a tiny village in the countryside of Gloucestershire in western England, Sinfonye recreates the imaginative spirit of this exceptional composer. Hildegard is known for her hymns, anthems and sequences honoring saints, virgins and Mary, and Sinfonye delivers an unforgettable celebration of these praises and metaphorical writings in the plainchant tradition - a single vocal melodic line - a tradition common in liturgical singing of her time.