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Starry Firmament - REC/BSN/HP
Composer: Bingen, Hildegard von
Publisher: T.D. Ellis
Edition: 71553
$16.95
Starry Firmament - Two Songs
for soprano recorder, bassoon and harp (or piano)
by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.
arranged by Amber Ferenz
PROGRAM NOTES
These settings were commissioned by Isabel “Gypsy” Richardson especially for Voices In the Wood’s 2024 Winter Woods recording sessions. Thanks, Gypsy!
Setting the music of Hildegard von Bingen for modern instruments is no small thing. First, there’s the task of fitting meterless music into modern metered bars. Second, if I deviated too much from her original, absolutely stunning melodic structures, would the pieces even read as Hildegard’s music? I also felt that I couldn’t be too precious about historical accuracy since I was writing for the modern bassoon, recorder, and harp.* I did my best to create chamber settings that stay true to the feel of her music, which I absolutely adore.
I have so much respect, gratitude and admiration for Hildegard’s life and work. Besides serving as a Benedictine nun and abbess, she was an astonishingly gifted polymath, composer (and lyricist!), visionary, mystic, philosopher, writer, and medical practitioner during the High Middle Ages, and left an enormous treasure trove of written works behind her.
Amber Ferenz - Grayson, GA, 2024
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