Voices Found: Hildegard's voice, Wonder, Love, and Praise #841, September 17, Hildegard of Bingen

                                                                                 

A sculpture at the Hildegard Abbey in Bingen: young Hildegard gazing over the Rhine Valley 

                                                                               

Kyrie  by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179, is shown below written in   neumes, the notation, of her time. It is one of many chants the Abbess wrote for daily services in her monastery.  It is the first liturgical song for the Western  liturgy that we  know was composed by a women.   

           An  image of Hildegard's Kyrie from a facsimile of the Riesencodex, the 12th century                                                                                     manuscript that includes most of her songs.

 Hildegard wrote for women's voices. Other composers of the time wrote for men.  Her wide melodic range and  florid melismatic style enhance the beauty and flexibility of  the feminine voice. Hildegard's Abbey was quite progressive for the time. The Abbess encouraged her nuns to dress beautifully;  even allowing them to keep and wear their jewels for special occasions. She  also trained them  to sing exquisitely. To this day chant of the nuns at the the St. Hildegard Abbey in Ruedesheim, Germany  embodies  Hildegard's standard of musical excellence. (I have heard their glorious voices.)

https://abtei-st-hildegard.de/en_the-abbey/

My transcription of  Hildegard's Kyrie is published by Church Publishing, Inc. in Wonder Love and Praise, a supplement to the Hymnal 1982.  In addition to the transcription of the original chant, WLP offers a simplified arrangement that is easy for  congregations to sing.  Now we can all can  sing with the Abbess!         

https://churchpublishing.org/products/9780898692686-wonder-love-and-praise-leaders-edition