Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C (F₃ in scientific pitch notation) to the second G above middle C (G₅), although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C (E₃) or the second B above middle C (B₅).

Terminology

"Contralto" is meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other genres lack a system of vocal categorization comparable to that generally accepted in the classical context. Even within current operatic practice, contraltos are often classed as mezzo-sopranos, because singers in each range can cover for those in the other. When appearing separately, the term "contralto" applies only to female singers; men whose voices fall in the same range or higher are known as "countertenors." The terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, the latter technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors like tessitura, vocal timbre, vocal facility, and vocal weight.

Within the category of contraltos are three generally recognized subcategories—coloratura contralto, lyric contralto, and dramatic contralto—that usefully describe the voice type in general terms. Note, however, that they do not always apply with precision to individual singers; some exceptional dramatic contraltos, such as Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Sigrid Onégin, were technically equipped to perform not only heavy, dramatic music by the likes of Wagner but also florid compositions by Donizetti.

Coloratura contralto

Coloratura contraltos—who have light, agile voices ranging very high for the classification and atypically extensive coloratura and high sustaining notes—specialize in florid passages and leaps. Given its deviations from the classification's norms, this voice type is quite rare.

Lyric contralto

A lyric contralto voice is lighter than a dramatic contralto but not capable of the ornamentation and leaps of a coloratura contralto. This class of contralto, lighter in timbre than the others, is the most common today and usually ranges from the G below middle C (G₃) to the G two octaves above middle C (G₅).

Dramatic contralto

The dramatic is the deepest, darkest, and heaviest contralto voice, usually having a heavier tone and more power than the others. Singers in this class, like the coloratura contraltos, are rare. They typically sing in a range from the G below middle C (G₃) to the A above middle C (A₄).

Contralto roles in opera

True operatic contraltos are rare, and the operatic literature contains few roles written specifically for them. Contraltos sometimes are assigned feminine roles like Angelina in ''La Cenerentola'', Rosina in ''The Barber of Seville'', and Olga in ''Eugene Onegin'', but more frequently they play female villains or assume trouser roles originally written for castrati. A common saying among contraltos is that they may play only "witches, bitches, or britches."

Examples of contralto roles in the standard operatic repertoire include the following:.

Angelina^*, ''La Cenerentola'' (Rossini)

Art Banker, ''Facing Goya'' (Michael Nyman)

Auntie^*, landlady of The Boar, ''Peter Grimes'' (Britten)

Azucena^*, ''Il trovatore'' (Verdi)

The Baroness, ''Vanessa'' (Barber)

Berta, ''Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)

La Cieca, ''La Gioconda'' (Ponchielli)

The Countess^*, ''The Queen of Spades'' (Tchaikowsky)

Erda, ''Das Rheingold, Siegfried'' (Wagner)

Madame Flora, ''The Medium'' (Gian Carlo Menotti)

Fides, Le prophète (Giacomo Meyerbeer)

Gertrude ''Romeo et Juliette'' (Gounoud)

Gloria Mills, ''Axel an der Himmelstür'' (Ralph Benatzky)

Katisha, ''The Mikado'' (Gilbert and Sullivan)

Klytemnestra^*, ''Elektra'' (Strauss)

Maddalena^*, ''Rigoletto'' (Verdi)

Magdelone, ''Maskarade (Nielsen)

Mama Lucia, ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (Mascagni)

Malcolm^*, ''La donna del lago'' (Rossini)

Marcellina, ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (Mozart)

Marchesa di Maggiorivoglio, ''La Fille du Regiment (Donizetti)

Margret, ''Wozzeck'' (Berg)

Marthe, ''Faust'' (Gounoud)

Mary, ''Der fliegende Holländer'' (Wagner)

Maria (pronounced ''Mar EYE uh''), ''Porgy and Bess'' (Gershwin)

Mother, ''The Consul'' (Menotti)

Mother Goose, ''The Rake's Progress'' (Stravinsky)

Mrs Quickly, ''Falstaff'' (Verdi)

Olga^*, ''Eugene Onegin'' (Tchaikovsky)

Orfeo, ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' (Gluck)

Lel, ''The Snow Maiden'' (Rimsky-Korsakov)

Little Buttercup, ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' (Gilbert and Sullivan)

Lucretia, ''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Britten)

Didone, ''Egisto'' (Cavalli)

Pauline, ''The Queen of Spades'' (Tchaikovsky)

La Principessa, ''Suor Angelica'' (Puccini)

Rosina^*, ''The Barber of Seville'' (Rossini)

Ruth ''The Pirates of Penzance'' (Gilbert and Sullivan)

Orsini ''Lucrezia Borgia'' (Donizetti)

Tancredi, ''Tancredi'' (Rossini)

Ulrica, ''Un ballo in maschera'' (Verdi)

Widow Begbick^*, ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' (Kurt Weill)

Cornelia ''Giulio Cesare'' (Handel)

^* indicates a role that may also be sung by a mezzo-soprano.

See also

Fach

List of contraltos in non-classical music

List of operatic contraltos

References

Further reading

Category:Vocal music Category:Voice types Category:Opera terminology Category:Italian loanwords Category:Pitch (music)

ca:Contralt de:Alt (Stimmlage) el:Κοντράλτο es:Contralto fr:Contralto gl:Contralto io:Kontralto it:Contralto ka:კონტრალტო nl:Contra-alt pl:Kontralt pt:Contralto ru:Контральто sr:Kontraalt sv:Kontraalt tr:Kontralto

Eula Beal (January 25, 1919 – July 29, 2008) was an American contralto. During her relatively short touring career, she performed with distinguished collaborators not only in concert on the US West Coast but also in ''Concert Magic'', a 1947 film billed as "the first motion picture concert."

Beal was born in Riverside, California. Touring the United States as a concert contralto in the 1940s, she appeared with orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. With the latter ensemble, she performed in two works by Gustav Mahler: his Eighth Symphony, under Eugene Ormandy at the Hollywood Bowl, and ''Kindertotenlieder''. Beal's operatic appearances included impersonations of Erda in Wagner's ''Siegfried'' and the innkeeper in ''Boris Godunov'' with the San Francisco Opera during the 1948 season. She also sang at Radio City Music Hall and the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Pops.

Beal's present fame rests on her participation in ''Concert Magic'', an unscripted film presenting, as the title would suggest, a classical concert. Beal was the sole vocalist; instrumentalists included pianists Adolph Baller, Jakob Gimpel, and Marguerite Campbell; violinist Yehudi Menuhin; and an orchestra billed as "Symphony Orchestra of Hollywood" under the baton of Antal Dorati. Interspersed with purely instrumental selections, Beal performed the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria"; Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" and "Ave Maria"; Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart"; and "Lord, Have Mercy on Me" from the ''St. Matthew Passion'' of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Beal married well known-aerial photographer William Garnett in 1941 and remained his wife until his death in 2006, bearing him three sons. After but a decade on the concert circuit, she opted to abandon her full-time performing career to devoting her time her family. Nonetheless, she remained sporadically active in northern California, where she and Garnett made their home; besides providing music at local funerals and churches, she performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Napa Symphony, and a local Napa, California choral group. She died in Napa in 2008.

References

External links

Eula Beal on imdb

Eula Beal sings None but the lonely heart by Tchaikovsky on YouTube

Eula Beal sings Bach aria with Yehudi Menuhin on YouTube

Eula Beal sings Ave Maria on YouTube

Soundtracks for Concert Magic (1948)

Category:American opera singers Category:Operatic contraltos Category:1919 births Category:2008 deaths

name	Karen J. Clark
image name	KarenClark.jpg
state house	Minnesota
district	61A
term start	January 6, 1981
preceded	Linda Berglin
birth date	July 23, 1945
birth place	Fort Sill, Oklahoma
residence	Minneapolis, Minnesota
spouse	Jacquelyn
profession	College instructor
religion	Roman Catholic
party	DFL

Karen J. Clark (born July 23, 1945) is a Minnesota politician, and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A Democrat, Clark represents District 61A, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis in the Twin Cities metropolitan area including portions of the Phillips, Ventura Village, Seward, and Lyn-Lake neighborhoods. She is the longest serving openly lesbian member to serve in a state legislature in the United States.

Service in the Minnesota House

First elected in November 1980, Clark is serving her sixteenth term in the Minnesota Legislature. She is currently a member of the Capital Investment, the Jobs and Economic Development Finance, and the Redistricting committees. Since first being elected, she has chaired the Governmental Operations Subcommittee for Jobs Creation and Unemployment Issues, the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee for Job Development and Training, the Economic Development Subcommittee for the Community Stabilization and Development Division, the Housing Committee, the Economic Development and International Trade Subcommittee for the Housing and Housing Finance Division, and the Finance Subcommittee for the Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division.

Champion for GLBT rights

Clark is a lesbian, and is one of two openly gay members of the Minnesota Legislature, along with Senator D. Scott Dibble (D–Minneapolis). After the Minnesota House voted on May 21, 2011, to place a gay marriage amendment referendum on the ballot in the 2012 general election, she and Dibble released a joint statement condemning the referendum. The referendum will have voters decide whether a legal marriage will be restricted to heterosexual couples.

Following the May 2011 House vote on the gay marriage amendment referendum, Clark stated: "It’s a sad day for the State of Minnesota. Tonight, we’ve moved one step closer to discriminating against Minnesotans simply based on who they love. This amendment won’t help a single family in Minnesota, and this vote is absolutely heartbreaking to thousands of people and families across our state. History will not look back kindly on this day or the people who voted for discrimination. The Minnesota I know is a place of inclusion, tolerance and love, and I truly believe the people of this great state will not vote to enshrine discrimination in our constitution..."

Background, education and career

Raised on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, Clark attended public schools in Edgerton, graduating from Edgerton High School in 1963. She earned her B.S. in nursing at the College of Saint Teresa in Winona. She later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, earning her Master of Public Administration degree in 1996.

Clark has been an instructor at the University of Minnesota since 1985. She previously worked as public health nurse, VISTA nurse-organizer and an OB-GYN Nurse Practitioner. She is a member of the adjunct Faculty of the Department of Human Relations at St. Cloud State University, of the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Studies Department, of the Macalester College Women’s Studies Department, and of the College of St. Catherine Graduate School of Holistic Health. She is a member of AFSCME. She is active in numerous South Minneapolis neighborhoods on issues relating to housing, health, human-rights, labor, women's rights, peace, and affordable high-quality child care for all.

References

External links

Rep. Clark Web Page

Rep. Clark Campaign Web Site

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:People from Comanche County, Oklahoma Category:People from Hennepin County, Minnesota Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota Category:Minnesota Democrats Category:Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Category:Lesbian politicians Category:LGBT state legislators of the United States Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of Minnesota faculty Category:Women state legislators in Minnesota Category:Women in Minnesota politics

Name	Hildegard of Bingen
Birth date	1098
Death date	September 17, 1179
Feast day	17 September
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism
Birth place	Bermersheim vor der Höhe, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Death place	Bingen am Rhein, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Titles	Sibyl of the Rhine
Canonized date	No formal canonization, but her name is in the Roman Martyrology
Major shrine	Eibingen Abbey
Prayer attrib	}}

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen (; ) (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, German Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a ''magistra'' by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the ''Ordo Virtutum'', is an early example of liturgical drama.

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

Biography

Hildegard of Bingen's date of birth is uncertain. It has been concluded that she may have been born in the year 1098. Hildegard was raised in a family of free nobles. She was her parents' tenth child, sickly from birth. In her ''Vita'', Hildegard explains that from a very young age she had experienced visions.

Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert and Mechthilde, offered her as a tithe to the church. The date of Hildegard's enclosure in the church is contentious. Her ''Vita'' tells us she was enclosed with an older nun, Jutta, at the age of eight. However, Jutta's enclosure date is known to be in 1112, at which time Hildegard would have been fourteen. Some scholars speculate that Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta, the daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, at the age of eight, before the two women were enclosed together six years later. There is no written record of the twenty-four years of Hildegard's life that she was in the convent together with Jutta. It is possible that Hildegard could have been a chantress and a worker in the herbarium and infirmarium. In any case, Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed at Disibodenberg in the Palatinate Forest in what is now Germany. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the enclosure. Hildegard also tells us that Jutta taught her to read and write, but that she was unlearned and therefore incapable of teaching Hildegard Biblical interpretation. Hildegard and Jutta most likely prayed, meditated, read scriptures such as the psalter, and did some sort of handwork during the hours of the Divine Office. This also might have been a time when Hildegard learned how to play the ten-stringed psaltery. Volmar, a frequent visitor, may have taught Hildegard simple psalm notation. The time she studied music could also have been the beginning of the compositions she would later create.

Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as "magistra" of her sister community by her fellow nuns. Abbot Kuno, the Abbot of Disibodenberg, also asked Hildegard to be Prioress. Hildegard, however, wanted more independence for herself and her nuns and asked Abbot Kuno to allow them to move to Rupertsberg. When the abbot declined Hildegard's proposition, Hildegard went over his head and received the approval of Archbishop Henry I of Mainz. Abbot Kuno did not relent, however, until Hildegard was stricken by an illness that kept her paralyzed and unable to move from her bed, an event that she attributed to God's unhappiness at her not following his orders to move her nuns to Rupertsberg. It was only when the Abbot himself could not move Hildegard that he decided to grant the nuns their own monastery. Hildegard and about twenty nuns thus moved to the St. Rupertsberg monastery in 1150, where Volmar served as provost, as well as Hildegard's confessor and scribe. In 1165 Hildegard founded a second convent for her nuns at Eibingen.

Hildegard says that she first saw “The Shade of the Living Light” at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions. In Hildegard’s youth, she referred to her visionary gift as her viso. She explained that she saw all things in the light of God through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, confiding only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, secretary. Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions, and in 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear." Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering and tribulations. In her first theological text, ''Scivias'' ("Know the Ways"), Hildegard describes her struggle within:

But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] and of that man whom I had secretly sought and found, as mentioned above, I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. [...] And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, 'Cry out therefore, and write thus!'

Hildegard's ''Vita'' was begun by Godfrey of Disibodenberg under Hildegard's supervision.

Works

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard, particularly her music. Between 70 and 80 compositions have survived, which is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers. Hildegard left behind over 100 letters, 72 songs, 70 poems, and 9 books.

One of her better known works, ''Ordo Virtutum'' (''Play of the Virtues''), is a morality play. It is unsure when some of Hildegard’s compositions were composed, though the Ordo Virtutum is thought to have been composed as early as 1151. The morality play consists of monophonic melodies for the Anima (human soul) and 16 Virtues. There is also one speaking part for the Devil. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, while Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima and the Virtues.

In addition to the ''Ordo Virtutum'' Hildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the ''Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum.'' The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard’s own text and range from antiphons, hymns, and sequences, to responsories. Her music is described as monophonic; that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line. Hildegard's compositional style is characterized by soaring melodies, often well outside of the normal range of chant at the time. Additionally, scholars such as Margot Fassler and Marianna Richert Pfau describe Hildegard's music as highly melismatic, often with recurrent melodic units, and also note her close attention to the relationship between music and text, which was a rare occurrence in monastic chant of the twelfth century. Hildegard of Bingen’s songs are left open for rhythmic interpretation because of the use of neumes without a staff. The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard of Bingen and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints.

The definition of ‘greenness’ is an earthly expression of the heavenly in an integrity that overcomes dualisms. This ‘greenness’ or power of life appears frequently in Hildegard’s works.

In addition to her music, Hildegard also wrote three books of visions, the first of which, her ''Scivias'' ("Know the Way"), was completed in 1151. ''Liber vitae meritorum'' ("Book of Life's Merits") and ''De operatione Dei'' ("Of God's Activities", also known as ''Liber divinorum operum'', "Book of Divine Works") followed. In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was about 75, Hildegard first describes each vision, then interprets them through Biblical exegesis. The narrative of her visions was richly decorated under her direction, with transcription assistance provided by the monk Volmar and nun Richardis. The book was celebrated in the Middle Ages, in part because of the approval given to it by Pope Eugenius III, and was later printed in Paris in 1513.

Aside from her books of visions, Hildegard also wrote her ''Physica,'' a text on the natural sciences, as well as ''Causae et Curae''. Hildegard of Bingen was well known for her healing powers involving practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones. In both texts Hildegard describes the natural world around her, including the cosmos, animals, plants, stones, and minerals. She combined these elements with a theological notion ultimately derived from Genesis: all things put on earth are for the use of humans. She is particularly interested in the healing properties of plants, animals, and stones, though she also questions God's effect on man's health. One example of her healing powers was curing the blind with the use of Rhine water.

Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated and abridged words.

Hildegard's musical, literary, and scientific writings are housed primarily in two manuscripts: the Dendermonde manuscript and the Riesenkodex. The Dendermonde manuscript was copied under Hildegard's supervision at Rupertsberg, while the Riesencodex was copied in the century after Hildegard's death.

Hildegard's visionary writings maintain that virginity is the highest level of the spiritual life; however, she also wrote about secular life, including motherhood. In several of her texts, Hildegard describes the pleasure of the marital act.

In addition, there are many instances, both in her letters and visions, that decry the misuse of carnal pleasures. She condemns the sins of same-sex couplings and masturbation. After confession, severe repentance expressed in fasting and bodily penance is needed to obtain forgiveness from God for such sins. For instance, in ''Scivias'' Book II Vision Six.78:

God united man and woman, thus joining the strong to the weak, that each might sustain the other. But these perverted adulterers change their virile strength into perverse weakness, rejecting the proper male and female roles, and in their wickedness they shamefully follow Satan, who in his pride sought to split and divide Him Who is indivisible. They create in themselves by their wicked deeds a strange and perverse adultery, and so appear polluted and shameful in my sight...

...a woman who takes up devilish ways and plays a male role in coupling with another woman is most vile in My (God's) sight, and so is she who subjects herself to such a one in this evil deed...

...And men who touch their own genital organ and emit their semen seriously imperil their souls, for they excite themselves to distraction; they appear to Me as impure animals devouring their own whelps...

...When a person feels himself disturbed by bodily stimulation let him run to the refuge of continence, and seize the shield of chastity, and thus defend himself from uncleanness. (translation by Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop)

Human beings show forth God's creative power, and man and woman have complementary roles in the world.

...When God looked upon the human countenance, God was exceedingly pleased. For had not God created humanity according to the divine image and likeness? Human beings were to announce all God's wondrous works by means of their tongues that were endowed with reason. For humanity is God's complete work....

Man and woman are in this way so involved with each other that one of them is the work of the other. Without woman, man could not be called man; without man, woman could not be named woman. Thus woman is the work of man, while man is a sight full of consolation for woman. Neither of them could henceforth live without the other. Man is in this connection an indication of the Godhead while woman is an indication of the humanity of God's Son.

Significance

Hildegard communicated with popes such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and other notable figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work, at the behest of her abbot, Kuno, at the Synod of Trier in 1147 and 1148. Hildegard of Bingen’s correspondence with many people is an important element of her literary work because this is where we can see her speaking most directly to us.

Many abbots and abbesses asked her for prayers and opinions on various matters. She traveled widely during her four preaching tours. She had several rather fanatic followers, including Guibert of Gembloux, who wrote frequently to Hildegard and eventually became her secretary after Volmar died in 1173. In addition, Hildegard influenced several monastic women of her time and the centuries that followed; in particular, she engaged in correspondence with another nearby visionary, Elisabeth of Schönau.

Contributing to Christian European rhetorical traditions, she “authorized herself as a theologian” through alternative rhetorical arts. Hildegard was creative in her interpretation of theology. She believed that her monastery should not allow novices who were from a different class than nobility because it put them in an inferior position. She also stated that ‘woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman’. Due to church limitation on public, discursive rhetoric, the medieval rhetorical arts included: preaching, letter writing, poetry, and the encyclopedic tradition. Hildegard’s participation in these arts speaks to her significance as a female rhetorician, transcending bans on women’s social participation and interpretation of scriptures. The acceptance of public preaching by a woman, even a well-connected abbess and acknowledged prophet does not fit the usual stereotype of this time. She conducted four preaching tours throughout Germany, speaking to both clergy and laity in chapter houses and in public, mainly denouncing clerical corruption and calling for reform. Maddocks claims that it is likely she learned simple Latin, and the tenets of the Christian faith, but was not instructed in the Seven Liberal Arts, which formed the basis of all education for the learned classes in the Middle Ages: the ''Trivium'' of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric plus the ''Quadrivium'' of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The correspondence she kept with the outside world both spiritual and social transgressed the cloister as a space of female confinement, and served to document Hildegard’s grand style and strict formatting of medieval letter writing. The poetry and music of Hildegard’s Symphonia is concerned with the anatomy of female desire thus described as Sapphonic, or pertaining to Sappho, connecting her to a history of female rhetoricians.

In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars. Her reference to herself as a member of the "weaker sex" and her rather constant belittling of women, though at first seemingly problematic, must be considered within the context of the patriarchal church hierarchy. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis. Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice. Hildegard used her voice to condemn church practices she disagreed with, in particular simony.

Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. She was the inspiration for Dr. Gottfried Hertzka's "Hildegard-Medicine", and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing center that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing,. Hildegard's reincarnation has been debated since 1924 when Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner lectured that a nun of her description was the past life of Russian poet Vladimir Soloviev, whose Sophianic visions are often compared to Hildegard. Sophiologist Robert Powell writes that hermetic astrology proves the match, and artist mystic Carl Schroeder claims to be in the lineage of Hildegard with the support and validation of reincarnation author Walter Semkiw.

Before Hildegard’s death, a problem arose with the clergy of Mainz. A man buried in Rupertsburg had died after excommunication from the Church. Therefore, the clergy wanted to remove his body from the sacred ground. Hildegard did not accept this idea, replying that it was a sin and that the man had been reconciled to the church at the time of his death. On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies and cross over the room where she was dying. and Pope Benedict XVI. Hildegard’s Parish and Pilgrimage Church house the relics of Hildegard, including an altar encasing her remains, in Eibingen near Rüdesheim.

Hildegard of Bingen also appears in the calendar of saints in various Anglican churches. In the Church of England she is commemorated on 17 September.

In space, she is commemorated by the asteroid 898 Hildegard.

Bibliography

Primary sources ;Editions and manuscripts of Hildegard's works

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Opera minora''. edited by H. Feiss, C. Evans, B. M. Kienzle, C. Muessig, B. Newman, P. Dronke, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 226 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), ISBN 978-2-503-05261-8

Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Hs. 2 (Riesen Codex) or Wiesbaden Codex (ca. 1180–85)

Dendermonde, Belgium, St.-Pieters-&-Paulusabdij Cod. 9 (Villarenser codex) (ca. 1174/75)

Otto Müller Verlag Salzburg 1969: Hildegard von Bingen: Lieder (modern edition in adapted square notation)

München, University Library, MS2∞156

Leipzig, University Library, St. Thomas 371

Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS 1139

Beate Hildegardis Cause et cure, edidit L. Moulinier, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2003, CXVII + 384 p.

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars prima I-XC'' edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars secunda XCI-CCLr'' edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1993)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars tertia CCLI-CCCXC'' edited by L. Van Acker and M. Klaes-Hachmoller, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis XCIB (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Scivias''. A. Führkötter, A. Carlevaris eds., Corpus Christianorum Scholars Version vols. 43, 43A. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2003)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Liber vitae meritorum''. A. Carlevaris ed. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 90 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1995)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Liber divinorum operum''. A. Derolez and P. Dronke eds., Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 92 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996)

Hildegard of Bingen, ''Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris, Vita sancti Dysibodi episcopi,'' ed. and trans. Hugh Feiss & Christopher P. Evans, Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations 11 (Louvain and Paris: Peeters, 2010)

;Other sources

Friedrich Wilhelm Emil Roth, "Glossae Hildigardis", in: Elias Steinmeyer and Eduard Sievers eds., ''Die Althochdeutschen Glossen'', vol. III. Zürich: Wiedmann, 1895, 1965, pp. 390–404.

''Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis, in Analecta Sacra'' vol. 8 edited by Jean-Baptiste Pitra (Monte Cassino, 1882).

Patrologia Latina vol. 197 (1855).

Explanatio Regulae S. Benedicti

Explanatio Symboli S. Athanasii

Homeliae LVIII in Evangelia.

Hymnodia coelestis.

Ignota lingua, cum versione Latina

Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis (1163-73/74)

Liber vitae meritorum (1158–63)

Libri simplicis et compositae medicinae.

Physica, sive Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem

Scivias seu Visiones (1141–51)

Solutiones triginta octo quaestionum

Tractatus de sacramento altaris.

See also

Bibliography of Hildegard of Bingen

Discography of Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard has been portrayed on film by Patricia Routledge (Keeping Up Appearances) in a dramatized BBC biographical documentary called "Hildegard Von Bingen In Portrait: Ordo Virtutum."

The film ''Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen'', directed by Margarethe von Trotta, premiered in Europe in 2009. Its US distributor is Zeitgeist Films, where it is due to be released in October 2010. Hildegard is played by Barbara Sukowa.

Notes

References

Baird, Joseph L and Ehrman, Radd K. The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Bent, Ian D. and Marianne Pfau. “Hildegard of Bingen.” ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 2nd edition, Volume 11. Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrell. New York: Grove, 2001.

Bennett, Judith M. and C. Warren Hollister. Medieval Europe: A Short History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 289, 317.

Boyce-Tillman, June. “Hildegard of Bingen at 900: The Eye of a Woman.” ''The Musical Times'' 139, no. 1865 (Winter, 1998): 31–36.

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader. Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2007.

Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. “Music and Performance: Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum.” ''The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen: Critical Studies''. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, 1992.

Dietrich, Julia. “The Visionary Rhetoric of Hildegard of Bingen.” Listening to Their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historic Women. Ed. Molly Meijer Wertheimer. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997. 202–214.

Fassler, Margot. “Composer and Dramatist: ‘Melodious Singing and the Freshness of Remorse.’” ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.

Flanagan, Sabina. Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179: a visionary life. London: Routledge, 1989.

Fox, Matthew. Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen. New Mexico: Bear and Company, 1985.

Furlong, Monica. Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics. Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1996.

Glaze, Florence Eliza. “Medical Writer: ‘Behold the Human Creature.’” ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.

Hildegard of Bingen. ''Book of Divine Works of Hildegard of Bingen''. Trans. by Priscilla Throop. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2009.

________. ''Causae et Curae (Holistic Healing)''. Trans. by Manfred Pawlik and Patrick Madigan. Edited by Mary Palmquist and John Kulas. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, Inc., 1994.

________. ''Causes and Cures of Hildegard of Bingen''. Trans. by Priscilla Throop. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2006, 2008.

________. ''The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen''. Trans. by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994/1998.

________. ''Physica''. Trans. Priscilla Throop. Rochester Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1998.

________. ''Scivias''. Trans. by Columba Hart and Jane Bishop. Introduction by Barbara J. Newman. Preface by Caroline Walker Bynum. New York: Paulist Press, 1990.

________. ''Three Lives and a Rule: the Lives of Hildegard, Disibod, Rupert, with Hildegard’s Explanation of the Rule of St. Benedict''. Trans. by Priscilla Throop. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2010.

Holsinger, Bruce W. Music, Body, and Desire In Medieval Culture. California: Standford University Press, 2001.

Holsinger, Bruce. “The Flesh of the Voice: Embodiment and the Homoerotics of Devotion in the Music of Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179).” Signs:Journal of Women in Culture and Society 19 (Autumn, 1993): 92–125.

King-Lenzmeier, Anne. Hildegard of Bingen: an integrated version. Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2001.

Maddocks, Fiona. Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

Madigan, Shawn. Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women’s Spiritual Writings. Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1998.

McGrade, Michael. “Hildegard von Bingen.” ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopaldie der Musik'', 2nd edition, T. 2, Volume 8. Edited by Ludwig Fischer. Kassel, New York: Bahrenreiter, 1994.

Moulinier, Laurence, ''Le manuscrit perdu à Strasbourg''. Enquête sur l'œuvre scientifique de Hildegarde, Paris/Saint-Denis, Publications de la Sorbonne-Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 1995, 286 p.

Moulinier, Laurence, "La botanique de Hildegarde de Bingen", ''Médiévales'', 16–17, 1989, p. 113–129.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Elisabeth, Ursule et les Onze mille vierges : un cas d'invention de reliques à Cologne au XIIe siècle", ''Médiévales'', 22–23, printemps 1992, p. 173–186.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Deux jalons de la construction d'un savoir botanique en Allemagne aux XIIe-XIIIe siècles : Hildegarde de Bingen et Albert le Grand", dans ''Le monde des plantes''. Savoirs et usages sociaux du XIIe au XVIIe siècle, dir. A. J. Grieco, O. Redon, L. Tongiorgi Tomasi, Saint-Denis, P.U.V., 1993, p. 89–105.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Fragments inédits de la Physica : contribution à l'étude de la transmission des manuscrits scientifiques de Hildegarde de Bingen", ''Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome'', 105, fasc. 2, 1993, p. 629–650.

Moulinier, Laurence, "L'abbesse et les poissons : un aspect de la zoologie de Hildegarde", dans ''Exploitation des animaux sauvages à travers le temps, Actes des rencontres'', 15–17 octobre 1992, dir. J. Desse et F. Audoin-Rouzeau, Juan-les-Pins, Editions APDCA, 1993, p. 461–472.

Moulinier, Laurence, "L'ordre du monde animal selon Hildegarde de Bingen" dans L'homme, ''l'animal domestique et l'environnement du Moyen Age au XVIIIe siècle, Actes du colloque de Nantes'', 22–24 octobre 1992, textes réunis par R. Durand, Nantes, Ouest Editions, 1993, p. 51–62.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Hildegarde de Bingen, les plantes médicinales et le jugement de la postérité : pour une mise en perspective", ''Scientiarum historia'', 20, 1994, 1–2, p. 61–75.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Une encyclopédiste sans précédent ? Le cas de Hildegarde de Bingen", dans ''L'enciclopedismo medievale'', éd. M. Picone, ''Actes du colloque international "L'enciclopedismo medievale"'', San Gimignano, 8–10 octobre 1992, Ravenne, A. Longo Editore, 1994, p. 119–134.

Moulinier, Laurence, "H comme Histoire : Hrotsvita, Hildegarde et Herrade, trois récits de fondation au féminin", ''Clio, Histoire, femmes et sociétés, 2, Femmes et religion,'' 1995, p. 85–107.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Les merveilles de la Nature vues par Hildegarde de Bingen", dans ''Miracles, prodiges et merveilles au Moyen Age, Actes du XXVe congrès de la SHMESP'', Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1995, p. 115–132. Internet available :

Moulinier, Laurence, "Ein Präzedenzfall der Kompendien Literatur: die Quellen der naturlichen Schriften Hildegards von Bingen", in ''Hildegard von Bingen. Prophetin durch die Zeiten.'' Zum 900. Geburtstag, éd. E. Forster, Freiburg/Basel/Wien, Herder, 1997, p. 431–447.

Moulinier, Laurence, "La faune germanique médiévale aux XIe-XIIe siècles : une brève histoire de noms", dans ''Milieux naturels, espaces sociaux. Etudes offertes à Robert Delort,'' éd. F. Morenzoni et E. Mornet, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1997, p. 193–208.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Quand le malin fait de l'esprit : le rire au Moyen Age vu depuis l'hagiographie", ''Annales, Histoire, sciences sociales'', 3, Mai-Juin 1997, p. 457–475. Internet available :

Moulinier, Laurence, "Vitae latines et volgarizzamento : l'exemple de la Vie de Hildegarde en français", dans ''Santità, Culti, Agiografia. Temi e prospettive'', éd. S. Boesch Gajano, Rome, Viella, 1997, p. 139–163.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Abbesse et agronome : Hildegarde et la botanique de son temps", dans ''Hildegard of Bingen. The Context of her Thought and Art'', éd. Ch. Burnett, P. Dronke, Londres, The Warburg Institute, 1998, p. 135–156.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Hildegarde exorciste : la 'Vie de Hildegarde' en français et sa principale source inédite", ''Hagiographica'', V, 1998, p. 91–118.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Deux fragments inédits de Hildegarde de Bingen copiés par Gerhard von Hohenkirchen (†1448)", ''Sudhoffs Archiv'', 83, 1999, p. 224–238.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Et papa libros eius canonizavit : réflexions sur l'orthodoxie des écrits de Hildegarde de Bingen", dans S. Elm., E. Rebillard, A. Romano (ed.), ''Orthodoxie, Christianisme, Histoire. Orthodoxy, Christianity'', Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome 270, Rome, EFR, 2000, p. 177–198.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Unterhaltungen mit dem Teufel : Eine französische Hildegard-Vita des 15. Jahrhunderts und ihre Quellen", dans ''Hildegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld. Internationaler wissenschaftlicher Kongreß zum 900jährigen Jubiläum'', 13–19 September 1998, Bingen am Rhein, éd. A. Haverkamp, Mayence, Philipp von Zabern, 2000, p. 519–560.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Le corps des jeunes filles dans les traités médicaux du Moyen Age ”, dans ''Le corps des jeunes filles de l’Antiquité à nos jours'', dir. L. Bruit Zaidman, G. Houbre, Chr. Klapisch-Zuber, P. Schmitt Pantel, Paris, Perrin, 2001, p. 80–109.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Hildegarde ou Pseudo-Hildegarde ? Réflexions sur l’authenticité du traité "Cause et cure"", dans R. Berndt éd., ''"Im Angesicht Gottes suche der Mensch sich selbst". Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)'', Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2001, p. 115–146 (Erudiri Sapientia, II).

Moulinier, Laurence, "Magie, médecine et maux de l’âme dans l’œuvre scientifique de Hildegarde", dans R. Berndt éd., ''"Im Angesicht Gottes suche der Mensch sich selbst". Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)'', Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2001, p. 545–559 (Erudiri Sapientia, II).

Moulinier, Laurence, "Un lexique trilingue du XIIe siècle : la lingua ignota de Hildegarde de Bingen", dans ''Lexiques bilingues dans les domaines philosophique et scientifique (Moyen Âge-Renaissance), Actes du colloque international organisé par l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-IVe Section et l’Institut Supérieur de Philosophie de l’Université Catholique de Louvain'', Paris, 12–14 juin 1997, éd. J. Hamesse, D. Jacquart, Turnhout, Brepols, 2001, p. 89–111.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Plantes toxiques et humeurs peccantes : la pensée du poison dans l’œuvre de Hildegarde", dans ''Le corps à l’épreuve. Poisons, remèdes et chirurgie : aspects des pratiques médicales dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Âge'', études réunies par F. Collard et E. Samama, Langres, Dominique Guéniot, 2002, p. 71–101.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Un témoin supplémentaire du rayonnement de sainte Radegonde au Moyen Age ? La Vita domnae Juttae (XIIe siècle)", ''Bulletin de la société des Antiquaires de l’Ouest'', 5e série, t. XV, 3e et 4e trimestres 2001, p. 181–197.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Le chat des cathares de Mayence et autres « primeurs » d’un exorcisme du XIIe siècle", dans ''Retour aux sources. Textes, études et documents d’histoire médiévale offerts à Michel Parisse'', Paris, Picard, 2004, p. 699–709.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Conception et corps féminin selon Hildegarde de Bingen", ''Storia delle donne'', 1, 2005, p. 139–157. Available from

Moulinier, Laurence, "Quête de Dieu et recherche de modèles. Naissance d’une tradition féminine dans la mystique allemande (XIIe-XIVe s.)", dans ''Ecritures'', n° 1, décembre 2005, Les femmes et l’Ecriture. L’amour profane et l’amour sacré, p. 15–55.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Naturkunde und Mystik bei Hildegard von Bingen : der Blick und die Vision", ''Actes du Symposium der Theophrast-Stiftung, "Mystik und Natur", Salzbourg, Universitätsbibliothek'', 16–18 novembre 2007.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Aspects de la maternité chez Hildegarde de Bingen", dans ''La madre. The Mother, Actes du colloque international "La mère", Université de Lausanne'', 23–25 novembre 2005, Florence, SISMEL, 2009, p. 215–234.

20.

Moulinier, Laurence, "La vie d’une âme, la voix d’une sœur", Introduction à Elisabeth de Schönau, ''Visions'', traduit du Latin par Jean-Pierre Troadec, Paris, Le Cerf, 2009, p. 9–31.

Moulinier, Laurence, "Maternità spirituale e direzione di coscienza secondo Ildegarda di Bingen", dans G. Filoramo (éd.), ''Storia della direzione spirituale, II. L'età medievale'', a cura di Sofia Boesch Gajano, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2010, pp. 185–204.

Moulinier, Laurence, "La Terre vue par Hildegarde de Bingen (1098–1179)", dans ''Aux origines de la géologie, de l’Antiquité au Moyen Age, Actes du colloque inernational'' 10–12 mars 2005, Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), textes réunis sous la direction de Claude Thomasset, Joëlle Ducos et Jean-Pierre Chambon, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2010, p. 205–230.

Newman, Barbara. “Hildegard of Bingen: Visions and Validation.” ''Church History'' 54 (1985): 163–175.

________. “‘Sibyl of the Rhine’: Hildegard’s Life and Times.” ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.

________. ''Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987.

Newman, Barbara. Voice of the Living Light. California: University of California Press, 1998.

Reed-Jones, Carol. Hildegard of Bingen: Women of Vision. Washington: Paper Crane Press, 2004.

Richert-Pfau, Marianna. “Mode and Melody Types in Hildegard von Bingen’s Symphonia.” ''Sonus'' 11 (1990): 53–71.

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002. 6–13.

Schipperges, Heinrich. Hildegard of Bingen: healing and the nature of the cosmos. New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997.

The Life and Works of Hildegard von Bingen. Internet. Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.html; accessed 14 November 2009.

Tillman, June-Boyce. “Hildegard of Bingen at 900: The Eye of a Woman”. The Musical Times 139, no. 1865 (Winter, 1998): 31–36.

Underhill, Evelyn. Mystics of the Church. Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 1925.

Further reading

;General commentary

Burnett, Charles and Peter Dronke, eds. ''Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of Her Thought and Art''. The Warburg Colloquia. London: The University of London, 1998.

Cherewatuk, Karen and Ulrike Wiethaus, eds. ''Dear Sister: Medieval Women and the Epistolary Genre''. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. ''The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen: Critical Studies''. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1992. ISBN 1-879288-17-6

Dronke, Peter. ''Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua to Marguerite Porete''. 1984. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Flanagan, Sabina. ''Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life''. London: Routledge, 1998. ISBN 0-7607-1361-8

King-Lenzmeier, Anne H. ''Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision''. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001.

Newman, Barbara. ''Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Newman, Barbara, ed. ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Berkeley: University of California, 1998.

Pernoud, Régine. ''Hildegard of Bingen: Inspired Conscience of the Twelfth Century''. Translated by Paul Duggan. NY: Marlowe & Co., 1998.

Schipperges, Heinrich. ''The World of Hildegard of Bingen: Her Life, Times, and Visions''. Trans. John Cumming. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999.

Wilson, Katharina. ''Medieval Women Writers''. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1984.

;On Hildegard's illuminations

Fox, Matthew. ''Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen''. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Company, 1985. ISBN 1-879181-97-5

Harris, Anne Sutherland and Linda Nochlin, ''Women Artists: 1550–1950'', Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf, New York, 1976. ISBN 0-394-73326-6

;Background reading

Barber, Richard. ''Bestiary: MS Bodley 764''. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1999.

Boyce-Tillman, June. ''The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living with Hildegard of Bingen'', Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-8192-1882-0

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. ''Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict''. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006.

Bynum, Caroline Walker. ''Holy Feast and Holy Fast: the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Bynum, Caroline Walker. ''Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Chadwick, Whitney. ''Women, Art, and Society,'' Thames and Hudson, London, 1990. ISBN 0-500-20354-7

Constable, Giles Constable. ''The Reformation of the Twelfth Century''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Dronke, Peter, ed. ''A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Holweck, the Rt. Reverend Frederick G., ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, with a General Introduction on Hagiology''. 1924. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990.

Lachman, Barbara. ''The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen: A Novel''. New York: Crown, 1993.

Lachman, Barbara. ''Hildegard: The Last Year''. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.

McBrien, Richard. ''Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.

McKnight, Scot. ''The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus''. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006.

Newman, Barbara trans. ''Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the "Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum''. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1988.

Newman, Barbara. ''God and the Goddesses''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1911-2

O’Donohue, John. ''Anam Ċara''. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.

Ohanneson, Joan. ''Scarlet Music. Hildegard of Bingen: A Novel''. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. ''Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Sacks, Oliver. ''Migraine: Understanding a Common Disorder''. 1985. Reprint. London: Vintage Books, 1999.

Santos Paz, José Carlos, ed. ''La Obra de Gebenón de Eberbach''. Firenze: SISMEL-Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2004.

Sherman, Bernard D. “‘Mistaking the Tail for the Comet’: An Interview with Christopher

Silvas, Anna. ''Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources''. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-271-01954-9

Sweet, Victoria. "Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening of Medieval Medicine." Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1999, 73:381–403.

Sweet, Victoria. "Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine." New York: Routledge Press, 2006. ISBN 0-415-97634-0

Ulrich, Ingeborg. ''Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Healer, Companion of the Angels''. Trans. Linda M. Maloney. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993.

Ward, Benedicta. ''Miracles and the Medieval Mind''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1987.

Weeks, Andrew. ''German mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein : a literary and intellectual history''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7914-1419-1

External links

Hildegard Center for the Arts, A Faith Based Fine Arts Center in Lincoln Nebraska

International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies

A Hildegard FAQ Sheet

Hildegard Von Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen Documents, History, Sites to see today, etc.

Source

Discography

Biography and Prayers of Hildegard

Another discography

Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany with information about Hildegard von Bingen and the Eibinger Hildegardisshrine

The Reconstruction of the monastery on the Rupertsberg

Young, Abigail Ann. ''Translations from Rupert, Hildegard, and Guibert of Gembloux''. 1999. 27 March 2006.

McGuire, K. Christian. ''Symphonia Caritatis: The Cistercian Chants of Hildegard von Bingen''. 2007. 14 July 2007.

* From Katya Sanna's blog

Category:1098 births Category:1179 deaths Category:People from Alzey-Worms Category:Beatified people Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Christian mystics Category:Rhineland mystics Category:German Roman Catholic theologians Category:Women philosophers Category:German spiritual writers Category:German women writers Category:Inventors of writing systems Category:Women of medieval Germany Category:Medieval composers Category:Medieval drama Category:German Roman Catholic abbesses Category:Walhalla enshrinees Category:Women classical composers Category:Herbalists Category:Women physicians Category:Manuscript illuminators Category:12th-century women writers Category:Romanesque artists Category:Sophiology Category:Hymnographers Category:German women artists Category:Anglican saints Category:Women composers

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Ewa Podleś (; born on April 26, 1952 in Warsaw) is an internationally celebrated Polish coloratura contralto with a very wide vocal range (up to soprano high D) and great vocal agility.

After studying at the Warsaw Academy of Music under Madame Bolechowska, Podleś made her stage debut as ''Rosina'' in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'' in 1975. Podleś made her Metropolitan Opera debut on February 14, 1984, singing the title role in Handel's ''Rinaldo'', but only for a few performances that year (from which only two were in the Met's House), and was notably absent from the Met for more than 24 years, since then pursuing her career elsewhere and performing regularly at all other major opera houses in Europe and America. In May 2003, she was in a car accident in Santa Fe, New Mexico and suffered a broken arm. Her return to the Met took place on September 24, 2008, when she sang the role of ''La Cieca'' in Ponchielli's ''La Gioconda''.

Though known mainly for her Baroque works, Podleś's repertoire ranges from Handel's ''Giulio Cesare'' (Cesare) to songs by Shostakovich. Right at the center of her abilities, however, are the contralto roles (some of them "trouser" roles) of Rossini. She is also a specialist in Russian works. She has frequently been labeled a "force of nature."

Her recent performances include roles of ''La Cieca'' in ''La Gioconda'', ''Bertarido'' in Handel's ''Rodelinda'', the title role in Rossini's ''Tancredi'', the title role in Handel's ''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'', ''Isabella'' in Rossini's ''L'italiana in Algeri'', ''Erda'' in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Seattle Opera, and Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss's ''Elektra'' with the Canadian Opera Company. She was scheduled to appear as Azucena in Verdi's ''Il trovatore'' at the Atlanta Opera in March 2009, but apparently cancelled.

Ewa Podleś and her husband, the accomplished pianist Jerzy Marchwinski, live in Warsaw, Poland.

References

External links

Ewa Podles' official site (in English and Polish)

Recordings of Podles at Delos International

TheOperaCritic.com singer's page

Interview at MusicalCriticism.com

Interview at Culture Kiosque

The Elemental Power of Ewa Podles

Recordings

Audio CD

Airs Célebres (Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Gluck, and Marcello)

Chopin: Mélodies with Abdel Rahman "El Bacha"

Chopin: Songs with Garrick Ohlsson

de Falla: El Amor Brujo with Krzysztof Penderecki

Duets (Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann) with Joanna Kozlowska and Jerzy Marchwinski (piano)

Gluck: Armide as ''La Haine'' with Marc Minkowski

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice as ''Orfeo'' with Peter Maag

Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice as ''Orphée'' with Patrick Preire

Handel Arias from Rinaldo and Orlando with Constantin Orbelian

Handel: Ariodante as ''Polinesso'' with Marc Minkowski

Mahler: Symphony No.2: Resurrection with Jean-Claude Casadesus

Mahler: Symphony No.3 with Antoni Wit

Mozart: Requiem with Michel Corboz & L'Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne

Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers as ''L'Opinion publique''

Penderecki: Seven Gates of Jerusalem with Kazimierz Kord

Penderecki: Te Deum and Lacrimosa

Ewa Podles & Garrick Ohlsson Live

Ptaszynska: Concerto for Marimba; Songs of Despair and Loneliness

Prokofiev: Alexandr Nevsky with JC Casadesus

Puccini: Il Trittico with Bruno Bertoletti

Respighi: Il Tramonto with Michel Nesterowicz

Rossini Arias for Contralto with Pier Giorgio Morandi

Rossini Gala with W Michniewski

Rossini: Tancredi as ''Tancredi'' with A Zedda

Russian Melodies with Constantin Orbelian

A Treasury of Polish Songs with Ewa Poblocka

DVD

Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto as ''Cornelia'' from Barcelona Opera

Donizetti: La fille du régiment as "Marquise de Berkenfield"

Ponchielli: '''La gioconda'' as "La cieca" from Barcelona Opera

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Operatic contraltos Category:People from Warsaw Category:Polish female singers Category:Polish opera singers

ca:Ewa Podleś de:Ewa Podleś es:Ewa Podles it:Ewa Podleś no:Ewa Podleś pl:Ewa Podleś