Hildegard’s Music: An Overview

This chapter provides an overview of Hildegard’s music, beginning with an examination of the way in which musical ideas and imagery pervade all of her writings. A discussion of the Dendermonde and Riesencodex collections of her music is followed by a summary of stylistic traits, including characteristics of her poetry (e.g. fascination with viriditas), her choice of subject matter, the use of models, melodic practices, fondness for melisma, and extremes of length and range in selected works. The chapter concludes with her conception of mode and use of accidentals. Throughout comparisons are made with both traditional plainchant (which Hildegard’s music resembles only imperfectly) and contemporary regional practice (which her music does reflect).