Today's Composer of the Day is Hildegard von Bingen.
(1098-1179)
Hildegard was a composer. She is, actually, the first composer with a known, extant biography.
She was also a priestess. She was also a poet, physician, philosopher, herbalist, and author. And basically did everything there was to do in the 12th century AD.
Notably, she was also a visionary. Literally. Like, she saw visions, and stuff. (It has been recently conjectured that the visions were due to migraines.)
In any event, she was a remarkable composer. She was very innovative, given that the sole medium at the time was monophonic plainchant. Her music is still performed today.
Her biography is remarkable. I recommend you read it.
Also, you should absolutely listen to her music.
Here is a score for you to look at.
2/6/08
Composer of the Day!
Posted by Sator Arepo at 9:07 PM
Labels: Composer of the Day, Hildegard von Bingen, really really old composers, Women composers
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5 comments:
Sexy mommy.
The third in the series I've heard of, and the first whose music I own. Good, crazy stuff.
Sorry to be a spoil-sport. But one thing that might cast a little shadow on her special forward-looking-ness is the fact that there were multiple mediums going on at the time, not just plainchant. Check out Leonin's polyphonic organum, fl. ca. 1150. He was probably French.
Yes, I was almost sorry I wrote that. Actually, there is some debate over whether she wrote any multivoiced music; her proto-opera about St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins (or something like that) may have contained polyphony. If I recall correctly, we aren't sure.
I have a recording of that by Anonymous 4. I do not think it's polyphonic. It's still awesome, though.
She did stuff nobody else was doing, and (IIRC) basically nobody followed her lead. Kind of a dead end, historically speaking, but really pretty.
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