Vision: The Life and Music of Hildegard von Bingen

Well, geez, it's a glorified CD booklet. As these things go, not bad, and Hildy is fascinating--composer, poet, herbalist, painter, mystical visionary. Some of the grotesqueries in her visions will stay with me--the head with three wings; Satan emerging as a big fuzzy cloud with an evil face from Mother Church's womb to take vengeance on humanity. The lyrics don't do much for me, but her music is beautiful, as long as you can avoid a recording with new-age drum backing. And as a CD booklet, it has a lot of facts in it, bringing to life the freaky solitude of the anchoress/ite and Hildegard's means of persuasion, which was basically just to lie down and not get up until she got her way (it's not holy when three-year-olds do it). Super interesting. But I mean, well, geez. ( )

This is only a small book, but a significant one. Hildegard Von Bingen is the first composer to leave a written form of her music.
I learned several interesting and, to me, previously unknown facts about medieval monastic life: did you know that this was not necessarily a 'hair shirt' existence? Monasteries were often financed by the rich and, the well to do - such as Hildegard - would not be likely to associate with the hoi polloi!
Ah, it has ever been thus.
An excellent little read. ( )

This is a small book, sumptuously illustrated in full colour, that offers a concise personal history of Hildegard of Bingen and notes on her music.

From the Penguin USA jacket notes:
Hiildegard von Bingen lived in Germany's Rhineland valley during most of the twelfth century (1098-1179). Besides being the abbess of a large and prosperous Benedictine abbey, she was a prominent writer, preacher, healer, poet, and composer who wrote nine books on theology, medicine, science, and physiology. Hildegard has been called the first medieval woman to reflect on and write about women. At the age of forty-two, Hildegard began to describe the mystical visions that she had experienced throughout her life, and in so doing, she shared her theology with the world. As Matthew Fox has said, "If Hildegard had been a man, she would be well known as one of the greatest artists and intellectuals the world has ever seen."
Through "Vision", the Angel Records compact disk of Hildegard's liturgical songs, set to contemporary rhythms, Hildegard's music and indeed Hildegard herself have been rediscovered. The companion book to the CD "Vision: the Life and Music of Hildegard von Bingen" was compiled and edited by Jane Bobko, with text by the well-known Hildegard scholar Barbara Newman and commentary by the theologian Matthew Fox. The book is divided into three sections: a biography, a section in which twwelve of Hildegard's visions are reproduced and interpreted, and an in-depth discussion of medieval music, and of Hildegard's music in particular. It includes a full translation and analysis of all the songs on the Vision CD. The book offers a unique understanding of a woman whose piety, strength, and spiritual wisdom were renowned in her own time and can inspire us even today."
This is an interesting book, appealing, yet also strange, mysterious and difficult to understand. The music is pretty, but can be tiring to listen to the whole disk at once. I'm not enough of a theologian or a mystic to fully appreciate Hildegard's work, but this is a somewhat accessible introduction to her words and music.