Description
Volume VI contains one antiphon (#55), two responsories (#56, #59), and two symphonias (#57, 58), the latter a genre unique here and not normally used in chant. As a genre, Hildegard may have appropriated the term symphonos for a hymn-like piece to be sung in unison, as distinct from antiphonos which specified singing in octaves. The five chants honor different modes of purity; the purity of chaste virgins, of penitent widows, and of inculpable innocents. Because they personify holy purity, Virgins, widows, and Innocents – – the children slaughtered by King Herod – – rank within the medieval order of Saints, and provide models for a virtuous life on earth. In contrast with the Ursula songs that follow in the Symphonia (Vol. VII) where she praises a particular Saint, here Hildegard does not laud particular women, but rather the more universally meaningful states of monastic Virginity and Widowhood, as well as the condition of blessed Innocence.
Contents:
55. O pulcre facies
56. O nobilissima viriditas
57. O dulcissime amator
58. O Pater omnium
59. Rex noster promptus
