Holly Mead - pianist, composer, educator
  • Home
  • About
  • Music
  • Teaching
  • Rhapsody's Tale
  • Musical Test Kitchen Blog
  • Contact

Musical Test Kitchen Blog

Hildegard of Bingen

5/20/2020

2 Comments

 

​O Ignee Spiritus (O Fiery Spirit)

In May of 2019, I gave a talk/performance at Pixar Animation Studios about nine extraordinary women composers and their music, and the first composer I introduced was Hildegard of Bingen. Here is a partial transcript of my presentation:
 
"Hildegard was born in Germany and was a nun, an abbess, and a polymath: a doctor, philosopher, scientist, poet, and a Christian mystic (she was famous for her visions!) - and she has one of the largest musical repertoires of ALL medieval composers, male or female!

As the 10th child of a noble family, Hildegard was given over to the church. During Hildegard’s time, nunnery’s were centers of intellectual learning run for and by nobility, so nuns (Hildegard especially!) had a huge amount of influence on politics and religion."

I went on to talk about Hildegard's rockstar-ness: politically and otherwise. For example - she would allow her nuns to perform her music while wearing glorious white shimmering garments and crowns!

One of the pieces I played was an abridged piano adaptation of Hildegard's “O Ignee Spiritus.” I thought it would be fun to sing this song in its entirety. The english translation is enough to make me weak in the knees! Here is one of my favorite lines:

Yet in your hand you always hold the sword
to cut away
the deadly apple offering
its blackened heart


You can visit the Hildegard Society's website if you would like (you will like!) to read the entire English translation and/or check out the full sheet music. A big thank you to Kathleen Mead for her assistance with the Latin pronunciation. If there are errors, they are mine - not hers! 
Musical Test Kitchen · O Ignee Spiritus - Hildegard of Bingen
Picture
2 Comments
Nancy Bristol
5/22/2020 07:57:51 pm

Wow! Just gorgeous.

Reply
Holly Mead
5/22/2020 08:16:25 pm

Thank you, Nancy!!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to the Musical Test Kitchen Blog

    Welcome

    to the Musical Test Kitchen where we explore and experiment with all manner of musical flavors!

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Music
  • Teaching
  • Rhapsody's Tale
  • Musical Test Kitchen Blog
  • Contact