Customer Reviews

Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was first introduced to Sequentia's Hildegard with their Canticles of Ecstacy, which entirely fits the description of meditative music. Ordo, Hildegard's first opus, is an allegory, with different voices representing the virtures. Some are melancholic, wistful; others are meditative; still other voices triumphant. It is a rich blend of beautiful voices, but one caveat to the seeker of background meditative music. In the allegory, the voice of the devil (a rasping male voice quite suitable to the allegory) bursts out in several scenes to mock and frighten the virtues. The devil cannot sing, of course, so he shouts. This will disturb the casual listener expecting nothing but soothing sounds. It is historically appropriate but not necessarily everyone's cup of tea.

Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum is a piece of genius. When it was written in the 12th century it was centuries ahead of its time and perhaps in some respect still is. Sequentia's interpretation matches the geniality of this music. The devil's intrusions are an invention without parallel. In the medieval mind, music was heavenly, meaning that the devil could not sing and could not be presented as vocal role. Instead, the devil can only grunt and shout unable to hide his true nature when faced by the virtues. This piece is certainly nothing for background listeners of medieval music.

Scott Graham seems to have missed the point of the "hog calling". To put it in is not stupidity on the producer's side, it is just following the instructions of Hildegard. You can't expect the devil to have a pleasant voice, at least not according to medieval belief. This is not music you are supposed to fall asleep to. Sequentia does an excellent interpretation. Highly recommended!

I have been listening to this album on and off for months now, and keep coming back to it. It is a great recording of one of the earliest pieces of combined chant and instrumental music still in existence, composed in around 1150. It is a surprisingly long morality play -- again, one of the earliest extant examples of this genre as well -- taking up two CDs.

It tells the story of Anima -- a pure soul (pure in the sense of not yet existing in physical form). Anima wants to skip life and just go straight to heaven. But the Virtues -- a choir of 17 female voices representing Humility, Hope, Innocence, Chastity, Contempt of the World, Celestial Love, Modesty, Mercy, Victory, Discipline, Discretion, Patience, Knowledge of God, Charity, Fear of God, Obedience and Faith -- tell her that's not how it works. So she enters earthly existence and is tempted by the devil, who appears throughout the story as a shouting (not singing or speaking) male voice, injecting a bit of earthly ugliness into the otherwise divine-sounding music.

The Virtues spend quite a bit of time describing themselves, with the devil adding insults and jibes along the way. Finally Anima returns repentant of all the bad stuff the devil tempted her into. The Virtues tie up the devil, taking him out of the picture. And all proceed happily on their way.

Some have complained of the ugliness of the devil's shouting, but it is important to the storyline. Actually I found it pretty humorous that the devil shouts in Latin with such a strong German accent. But once I thought about it, this is probably pretty accurate -- I imagine whatever monk originally performed this piece with Hildegard von Bingen and her convent crew had a German accent too.

I was surprised by the instrumental interludes, which feature fiddles and recorders prominently. I thought the music was very reminiscent of English and Celtic folk tunes in its general structure and feel.

Hildegard von Bingen was an amazing person, a real Renaissance lady hundreds of years before the Renaissance happened. A multifaceted artist, musician, author, mathematician and all-around visionary -- in both the figurative and literal sense (meaning she really saw visions). This performance of one of her key works should not be missed by anyone with even the slightest interest in early music or sacred chants.

To be honest, I have not heard this CD; however, I saw Sequentia perform Ordo Virtutum on their last tour and was stunned. The music is absolutely beautiful. Because the music lacks a melody, the focus is on the beauty of the human (mostly soprano) voice, and Sequentia withstands this scrutiny. Although Ordo Virtutum has been touted as the first opera, and does contain some character roles, its main appeal is as pure music. Listening to this qualifies as a spiritual experience.

Beautiful music as you might expect, interspersed sporadically with loud male voices that sound somewhat like hog calling.

It is hard to believe that a recording company (director?) could be so stupid