Hildegard of Bingen

The Compositions of Hildegard von Bingen

For several decades now people have been urging me to publish editions of Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), whose music I first performed in 1982.  The material provided here begins to answer that request.  Transcribing twelfth-century Rhineland neumes into modern notation presents many difficulties; for a discussion of problems with editions since the nineteenth century, see Honey Meconi, “The Unknown Hildegard: Editing, Performance, and Reception (An Ordo Virtutum in Five Acts),” in Music in Print and Beyond: Hildegard von Bingen to The Beatles, 258–305, edited by Craig A. Monson and Roberta Montemorra Marvin (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2013).

Each piece given here includes a transcription into stemless noteheads as well as a translation; comments on various issues are appended.  “Editing and Translation Practices” provides more detail on the choices made. 

• Editing and Translation Practices (PDF)
• Laus trinitati (PDF)
• O beata infantia (PDF)
• O Bonifaci (PDF)
• O cruor sanguinis (PDF)
• O frondens virga (PDF)
• O orzchis ecclesia (PDF)
• O pastor animarum (PDF)
• O quam mirabilis (PDF)
• O virtus sapientie (PDF)
• Quia felix puericia (PDF)

Copyright: 2022–2023 Honey Meconi. Right to use: For noncommercial purposes, all editions and translations are freely available for use with proper acknowledgement to Honey Meconi as editor and translator.