Hildegard of Bingen’s musical work in the aspect of the phenomenon of author’s style
Authors: Fedorak Dar’ia 
Published: January 2021

Statement of the problem. Today national musicology is beginning to actively show interest in the study of Western European medieval monody. However, there is still no scientific information about the unique personality of the Middle Ages – Hildegard of Bingen and her musical creativity – in particular about the liturgical drama «Ordo virtutum», although there are some musicology methods for analyzing this music. The relevance of this study is due to the filling of this gap. Taking in account that a musical work of the 11–12th centuries is usually considered only within the context of the “historical style”, it seems interesting to have the opposite approach – to identify the characteristic features of authorship in the work of a medieval composer, whose music is becoming more and more popular in the world concert repertoire. The purpose of the article is to consider the work of Hildegard of Bingen in the aspect of the phenomenon of the author’s style and to identify the invariant features of the individual style model. The liturgical drama “Ordo Virtutum” (“Series of Virtues”) of 1150 by Hildegard of Bingen was chosen as the material for the study, in which several types of art – music, literature and theater are combined, and which is the earliest survived sample of this genre. The “libretto” of the drama is written by Hildegard own and fixed in the so-called “Rizenkodeks” – the majestic manuscript book of 25 pounds, which stored in Wiesbaden Landesbibliothek. The author of this study used the following research methods: historical and contextual due to the need to identify the specifics of creative thinking of Hildegard of Bingen in the context of the theory and practice of the liturgical monody of her time; intonation-dramaturgical analysis aimed at a holistic comprehension of the musical content as such, which is guided by the search for unifying patterns of the intonation plan, and the text-musical semantic analysis of the holy chants fot covering the synergistic aspect of understanding style. Results of the study. Theological themes were the main issues of Hildegard’s life, because from the age of eight she lived and studied in a Benedictine monastery, and later founded her own monastery in Rupertsberg. So, the work of Hildegard of Bingen, along with the music of such well-known, but much younger than her, contemporaries, masters of polyphony, like Leonin and Perotin, provides a unique opportunity to trace the peculiarities of the manifestation of authorship in the monody of the 12th century. The Gregorian chant became a genre that fully embodies the aspirations of the church. However, from the 11th century onwards, secular elements were gradually introduced into church music: from Easter or Christmas tropes, which contained intonations of folk songs, to theatrical episodes based on Scriptures, or “actions” called liturgical drama. The musical drama “Ordo Virtutum” (“A Series of Virtues”) was created to consecrate the Hildegard Convent in Rupertsberg and is impressive primarily because it is the first fully preserved, not fragmentary, liturgical drama. Unlike traditional liturgical drama, the work also surprises with its unusualness and multidimensionality. The text of the drama is related to the themes, characters and prophetic visions presented in one of the main theological works of Hildegard – “Scivias”. As for music, it is a monody, which, thanks to its innovations, significantly expands the tonal and intonational boundaries of music of that time. “Ordo Virtutum” is a Christian philosophical parable dedicated to the struggle for the human soul between the sixteen Virtues (Faith, Hope, Love, Humility, Docility, Innocence, Modesty, Divine Love, Divine Knowledge, Prudence, Patience, Chastity etc.) and the devil. This is the story of a “prodigal daughter” tempted by the devil, who gradually repented and returned with joy to the bosom of the Church. The manuscript of the drama is not divided into actions, but modern editions divide the work into six parts: the prologue, four scenes and the finale. There are a total of 82 different melodies, 80 of which are performed by women. The presence of a large number of female roles (as evidenced by the mostly high register of singing) indicates that the drama “Ordo Virtutum” was composed and performed for the first time in a nunnery. A peculiar struggle takes place between the features of the traditional Gregorian genre, secular influences and signs of Hildegard’s own style of singing, which leads to their synthesis in her compositional work and the opening of new musical horizons. The content of her songs is based on spiritual and cultural context, on the one hand, and personal and psychological attitudes, on the other. Hildegard’s monody is individual in relation to the models of Gregorian chants described in the scientific literature and is unorthodox. Following the text, the melody is divided into lines, which are combined into structural constructions of a higher level – stanzas. The structural and semantic unity of the whole is achieved due to the commonality of melodic motives, and the structure of lines and stanzas is determined by the motive formula. The presence of the above-mentioned integrating principle together with the multiplicity of its incarnations within the unique author’s individuality makes it possible to assert that Hildegard of Bingen’s music is a systemic phenomenon and demonstrates its own compositional style, like the music of Leonin or Perotin. On the example of the analysis of the musical characteristics of different heroes of the work, we see that the liturgical drama “Ordo Virtutum” is not just a collection of typified chorales, as it may seem at first glance. We have before us a real composer opus, endowed with its own unique authorial style, which is “lighting” through each element of this harmonious systemic compositional and semantic integrity. Conclusions. The liturgical drama of Hildegard of Bingen, in fact, was the first, which means that it is advisable to talk about the “phenomenon of a musical work” (the term of N. Gerasimova-Persidskaya), which is inevitably associated with authorship. It was also revealed that the characteristic features that add originality to the musical writing of St. Hildegard are the construction of special short intonational-motive formulas, as well as the frequent use of melismas and musical figures of ascending leaps, extended to an octave. The interaction of these and other qualities forms the uniquely individual author’s style of Hildegard of Bingen, the phenomenon of which lies in his exceptional integrity.