Music of the Week
O Noblissima Viriditas
Composed by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
St Hildegard of Bingen - abbess, writer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, natural historian and polymath -is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most-recorded in modern history. For Hildegard, music rises almost to the level of a sacrament, channelling the perfection of divine grace from the heavenly choirs. Central to her spirituality was what she called viriditas, the Latin word for "greenness". “There is a power that has been since all eternity, and that force and potentiality is green!” she wrote amost 1,000 years ago.
The greening, often associated with Spring, reaches far beyond the season to encompass the power of life. With viriditas Hildegard captures the greening power, the living light, that breathes in all beings, flows through all that is alive: “Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty – it could not be creation without it.”
Click on the image to listen to her hymn, O nobilissima viriditas - "O noble greenness". It is sung by Sequentia, one of the worlds most respected ensembles for mediaeval music.
The greening, often associated with Spring, reaches far beyond the season to encompass the power of life. With viriditas Hildegard captures the greening power, the living light, that breathes in all beings, flows through all that is alive: “Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty – it could not be creation without it.”
Click on the image to listen to her hymn, O nobilissima viriditas - "O noble greenness". It is sung by Sequentia, one of the worlds most respected ensembles for mediaeval music.
O nobilissima viriditas, quae radicas in sole,
et quae in candida serenitate luces in rota, quam nulla terrena excellentia comprehendit, tu circumdata es amplexibus divinorum mysteriorum. Tu rubes ut aurora et ardes ut solis flamma. |
O most noble Greenness, rooted in the sun,
And who shines in bright serenity upon the wheel, Nothing on earth can comprehend you, You are encircled in the arms of divine mysteries. You are radiant as the dawn and burn as the flame of the sun. |