Through my project, I have become acquainted with Hildegard, an Abbess of the 12th Century. She's really interesting to me for several reasons, the main reason being that she wrote music and lyrics, which are regarded by some as the beginnings of German Opera. You can listen to a snippet of her music being performed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:O_frondens.ogg . It's very ethereal, yet also very repetitive. Over 80 of her works survive today, which is one of the largest reportoires of the middle ages.
Beyond music, Hildegard was an extemely active woman; from reading about her, you get the sense that she was very deep, yet dynamite as well, and did a lot of things that were uncommon for women to do. She went on preaching tours throughout Europe, and she was one of the only women of her time to do that. She also wrote a lot of books, upon a variety of subjects; geology, medicine, and botany to name a few. She also wrote some very interesting things about sexuality, though as a Nun, she remained celibate herself.
What sparks my interest in Hildegard the most is that she is a more singular figure - the history of women is often a tale of oppression, but to read about women influencing the world - being an influence in a structure as patriarchical as the Holy Roman Empire - that is uplifting. I wonder what Hildegard would have done if she had lived in our time...
Ruth Welsh
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpeg)
1 comment:
Ruth-
I found this post really interesting because we haven't really encountered anything about women during the middle ages -- with the exception of knights honoring them through songs and stories. I think it's interesting that some of the songs she wrote are considered the beginnings of German opera since we only learned about Heinrich Schuetz, who wrote the first German opera, "Daphne." I also think it's interesting that she wrote about her sexuality even though she was a nun, who remained celebate. Bravo Ruth! I look forward to listening to your presentation.
Mark
Post a Comment