In my copy’s booklet, there’s a translation botch by which the German “alle Stücke, die aus handschriftlichen Ausgaben musiziert werden, basieren auf direkten Konsultationen mit Wiesbaden MS, eingerichtet von Barbara Thornton” becomes “All pieces performed from diplomatic editions based on direct consultation with Wiesbaden Ms, prepared by Barbara Thornton”. How did “diplomacy” get involved with that, I don’t know. No, I take that back, I do know: it's probably "diplomatic" in the now rare sense of "related to diplomatics" (not diplomacy), which are "the science of deciphering old official documents, as charters, and of determining their authenticity, age, or the like".
Meeting between heaven and earth, between a singular woman, mystic, scientist, musician, living in the Rhineland at the beginning of the first crusade, and a contemporary Lebanese composer. Where the music and poems of the abbess of the twelfth century, famous for its ecstatic visions, rises to melt in that of Moultaka to a gradual descent into hell. Between archaism and modernity, Gregorian and old modes, the sound universe, by the games of echoes and resonances, takes on a strange modernity and questions our contemporary world, its blackness, its violence, its fragility. All of Caelis, directed by Laurence Brisset, has specialized in the ancient repertoire and has been opening its programs for today's composers for several years.
O nobilissima viriditas is the third volume of The Complete Hildegard von Bingen, following Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations (13127) and Aurora (13128), released in 1996 and 1999 respectively. Hildegard von Bingen was born in 1098 as the tenth and last child of a noble family. In 1106 at age eight she was entrusted to Jutta of Spondheim’s convent which was attached to the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg on the mountain of St. Disibod. After Jutta’s death in 1136, Hildegard became abbess and she subsequently established her own convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen in the late 1140s.
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.
This is the second volume of The Complete Hildegard von Bingen. 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.
VIRIDITAS was founded in 1991 by Juliette Hughes, initially to perform the Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen. The group is dedicated to re-thinking the performance of music of the 12th-century Latin West in contemporary framework. It is also involved in the performance of 20th-century music, seeking to set up a dialogue between music of different traditions.
Canonized by Pope Benedict in May 2012, St. Hildegard von Bingen, abbess, visionary, healer, singer, poet and composer, left two precious manuscripts filled with spiritual songs. With this anthology, Music for Paradise, the world-renowned ensemble Sequentia presents the entire spectrum of Hildegard's music - songs of surprising depth and virtuosity, at times meditative, at times shocking, yet always energized by the unique musical genius and voice of this visionary artist more than 800 years after her death.