Monday, November 20, 2006

Review of Thanks & von Bingen

Well, I decided Thanksgiving week would be a good time to do a wrap-up review of early music - it certainly has created a new room in my mind & heart worth being thankful for. I am thankful for Palestrina, Machaut, the Franco-Flems, the British buds - they are all friends of mine now, in some capacity or other.
As a backdrop for a week of meditative reflection, I have chosen to kick it way back to the roots - to the early of the early birds. This includes gregorian & ambrosian chant, as well as the mystic Hildegard von Bingen.
Hildegard was a mystic from the 12th century - she claims to have received visions from God, as well as the command to "Write what you see." She wrote: three books of descriptions of her visions with interpretations, poetry, as well as musical compositions.
I was just listening to "Fire of Creation," from The Origin of Fire.
That's Hildegard in the blue doorway, with her scribe Volmar.
Um... I want a scribe named Volmar.

2 comments:

Lauren said...

I LOVE Hildegard; you should try "Feather On The Breath of God" as well. Excellent.

Hope you're well,
L.

Justin said...

Hey! Looks like I am still called "no-updates Justin" on the blog that hasnt had an update since September.

I'll check out that Hildegard. She's quite a lady.

I am well. In the broken-and-bloody human sense.