On September 17, 1179 the Benedictine nun, writer, philosopher, natural historian and composer with a remarkably broad intellect , Saint Hildegard of Bingen passed away. One of the first composers known by name, her sacred monophonic (purely melodic) compositions are the most-often recorded of the pre-polyphonic era. Her greatest large-scale musical achievement was the sacred music drama Ordo virtutum (Order of the Virtues). Composed around 1151, it's the earliest morality play yet discovered and the only music drama of the period we can connect with a particular author and composer.
Hildegard came to monastic life due to a bizarre convention. Born in 1098, she was the 10th child of a noble family. As such, her future was determined a priori by a grotesque custom dictating that every family’s 10th child should be given to the Church. The particularly expressive quality of her music may reflect the circumstances in which nuns lived; their lot was defined by vows of poverty and the renunciation of worldly pleasures. Thus her sacred music was a vessel for powerful emotions. Keenly aware of the societal misogyny that consigned women to lives of servitude, she insisted on the necessity of preserving an independence of thought and spirit: "We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home."
Her music is striking for its very wide vocal ranges, soaring melodies, elaborate melismas, and intensely expressive treatment of the Latin text. Rather than being merely functional liturgical chant, it often has an almost ecstatic quality. The Vatican specifically recognizes Hildegard as a composer of sacred music and describes her musical work as part of an exceptionally broad intellectual and spiritual achievement.
