Gothic Revival: "Ordo Virtutum," a musical piece by Hildegard von Bingen (above), is on tap at Lincoln Center
| She was a nun - some say a saint. She died in 1179. And now, she`s one of the hottest composers in the world. She´s Hildegard von Bingen, whose ethereal and mystical liturgical chants have become a fixture on the classical charts since the early `80s - nineteen eighties, that is.
Reverential early music groups like Gothic Voices, Anonymous 4 and Sequentia have all hit the classical charts by faithfully performing her 12th-century tunes.
Now, Hildegard`s music is being stretched interpretively by pop artists and avant-gardists.
A dance music version of one composition was a hit in London last year - one critic called Hildegard the "swinging nun." A trancelike reworking by vocalist Jocelyn Montgomery and film maker/performer David Lynch, "Lux Vivens," will be out on Aug 25. A postmodern take on Hildegard will be on display tomorrow night, Thursday and Saturday when the Hildegurls perform during the Lincoln Center Festival. This female quartet will combine Hildegard`s "Ordo Virtutum" - "Order of the virtues," a morality play set to music - with the work of four contemporary composers. (Sequentia performed a straightforward version of the work earlier in the fest.) Amazingly, Hildegard`s florid musical lines work well in all these contexts. "You start on one note, and you suddenly jump," says Montgomery. "The vowel sound covers so many notes and there are such peaks and lows. You feel like you`re being carried along." "There`s an energy in singing her work which, I think, explains why so many singers love it." |
Gothic Revival: "Ordo Virtutum," a musical piece by Hildegard von Bingen (above), is on tap at Lincoln Center |