[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1mLpRxO3M&w=420&h=315]
Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 17 September 1179) “O Virtus Sapientie.”
Performed by American mezzo-contralto Karen Clark and violist Hank Dutt (b 1952.)
O virtus Sapientiae,
quae circuiens circuisti
comprehendendo omnia
in una via, quae habet vitam,
tres alas habens,
quarum una in altum volat,
et altera de terra sudat,
et tertia undique volat.
Laus tibi sit, sicut te decet,
O Sapientia.O strength of Wisdom
who, circling, circled,
enclosing all
in one life-giving path,
three wings you have:
one soars to the heights,
one distils its essence upon the earth,
and the third is everywhere.
Praise to you, as is fitting,
O Wisdom.
Repertoire Friday Double-Whammy
Are you a Hildegard von Bingen fan? But, you also like music written in the last ten years? Wondering how you can possibly mix the two? You might want to check out Robert Honstein‘s “De Apostolis” (2007) written for Soprano, Cello, Organ and Wine Glasses. (Click here to hear the recording.)
De Apostolis is an arrangement of a responsorial chant by Hildegard von Bingen. The text–De Apostolis: O Lucidissima Apostolorum turba–is a sequence praising all the saints. Like much of Hildegard’s work the text is full of vivid imagery and metaphor that inspires a chant of equally ecstatic melodic sweep and invention. I took the original Hildegard chant, translated it to modern rhythmic notation and added a cello and organ accompaniment. Wanting to create a musical equivalent to the spiritual ether suggested in Hildegard’s text, I included a chorus of droning wine glasses on the root and fifth of the work’s prevailing mode. This version is for solo soprano; however, as a responsorial chant and I could easily imagine a small women’s choir joining the soloist for the responsorial sections (doubling or possibly in simple harmony or counterpoint as well). – Robert Honstein
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