Hildegard von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum (ca. 1152) is the first morality play, the first extended classical work composed by a woman, and one of the first large works whose text and music were both notated and preserved. At a distance of nearly a thousand years, many things about its performance are uncertain. For instance, the even-rhythm syllables of the present performance are one way of realizing the settings, but not the only one. The work is usually excerpted, and perhaps it's a bit difficult to approach for the ordinary ...
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Hildegard von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum (ca. 1152) is the first morality play, the first extended classical work composed by a woman, and one of the first large works whose text and music were both notated and preserved. At a distance of nearly a thousand years, many things about its performance are uncertain. For instance, the even-rhythm syllables of the present performance are one way of realizing the settings, but not the only one. The work is usually excerpted, and perhaps it's a bit difficult to approach for the ordinary listener, consisting of a series of chants whose significant inflections have long since been lost. However, this is the first recording of the complete work, and it's surely significant as such. It's also expressively sung by the group Seraphic Fire, and listeners who follow the provided text will be drawn in. The story is one that would still serve Baroque composers well 600 years later: the Virtues and the Devil contest for an individual Soul. The performers do not really attempt...
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