Hildegard of Bingen's Allegorical Architecture in Scivias

Allegorical Architecture in Scivias: Hildegard’s
Setting for the Ordo Virtutum

MARGOT E. FASSLER
H
ildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) received the command to begin
Scivias, the first volume of her massive theological trilogy, in the
year 1141:1
And behold! In the forty-third year of my earthly course, as I was gazing with
great fear and trembling attention at a heavenly vision, I saw a great splendor in
which resounded a voice from Heaven, saying to me, “O fragile human, ashes
of ashes, and filth of filth! Say and write what you see and hear. . . .” (Scivias I,
preface; 43A:3; 59)2
Other details from her vita and her letters suggest that she finished in
around 1152, although subsequent revisions were certainly possible (and
1. Scivias is an abbreviated form of scitote vias Domini, which can be translated “know the
ways of the Lord.” The full title of the treatise (see, for example, Wiesbaden 2, fol. 1v) is Scivias
simplicis hominis (that is, Scivias by a Simple Person). My own ways have been lighted by the anon-
ymous readers of this article, by Barbara Newman, by Katie Bugyis, and by my fellow Hildegar-
dians in the musicological sphere, Honey Meconi, Tova Leigh-Choate, and William T. Flynn,
and by the assistance of Jeffrey Cooper; the nuns of the Abbey of St. Hildegard at Eibingen have
been wise in their suggestions and most generous with their time. I am grateful for the encourage-
ment of Susan Rankin and the students of her graduate seminar at the University of Cambridge.
The paper was written while on leave with fellowships from the American Council of Learned So-
cieties and the Guggenheim Foundation.
2. The critical edition of Scivias, by Adelgundis Führkötter, with Angela Carlevaris, is in
Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 43 and 43A. The other two major treatises
constituting her trilogy are her Liber Vite Meritorum (Book of Life’s Merits), ed. Angela
Carlevaris, written in around 1158–63, and Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works),
written in around 1163–74. All references are to these editions, and, in the case of Scivias, to
the English translation (sometimes with modifications) as prepared by Mother Columba Hart
and Jane Bishop. For references to Scivias in the discussion to follow, the volume and page of
the Latin citation is given first, followed by the page of the English translation. The critical edi-
tion of the text of the Ordo Virtutum is by Peter Dronke in Opera minora, 505–21. The music
of the play has been edited by Vincent Corrigan, Ordo Virtutum: A Comparative Edition. There
are two copies of Hildegard’s oeuvre from the twelfth century, and prepared in her own mon-
astery: Hildegard of Bingen, Lieder: Faksimile Riesencodex (Hs. 2) der Hessischen Landesbiblio-
thek Wiesbaden, fol. 466–481v., ed. Lorenz Welker, with comm. by Michael Klaper; and
Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum: Dendermonde, St.-Pieters
& Paulusabdij, ms. Cod. 9; intro. by Peter van Poucke. Only the former contains the Ordo
Virtutum.
Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 67, Number 2, pp. 317–378 ISSN 0003-0139, electronic ISSN
1547-3848. © 2014 by the American Musicological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permis-
sion to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions
website, www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/jams.2014.67.2.317.
318 Journal of the American Musicological Society
even likely).3 Clearly, she started to write the treatise while in residence
as the leader of a community of nuns affixed to the male Benedictine
Abbey of St. Disibod, and by the time she completed it she had moved
with her female community to nearby Bingen, where she established a
monastery dedicated to St. Rupert in the late 1140s. A chapel for worship
was dedicated by the archbishop of Mainz, in 1151 or 1152, with the
church apparently consecrated somewhat later.4 In 1165 she set up a sec-
ond women’s monastic community at Eibingen, just across the river, as the
number of nuns at the Rupertsberg had grown large. Both these commu-
nities were located on hillsides surrounded by vineyards, near the intersec-
tion of the Nahe and the Rhine rivers.5 This activity means that in addition
to her numerous other accomplishments, Hildegard was involved in the
planning of monastic buildings for years, including churches with their
towers. For much of her life, she was surrounded by piles of stones, wood-
en scaffolding, craftsmen, glaziers, and carvers, and this doubtless helps
explain her obsession with architectural imagery, so important especially in
her treatise Scivias and, I will argue, in the play Ordo Virtutum, works
3. Hildegard says she was commanded to write in 1141, but that she then “refused to
write for a long time” Scivias I, preface, 43:5; 60. From this evidence alone it is not pos-
sible to tell precisely when she began the treatise. For opinions on the dates as related to
events in Hildegard’s life, see Iversen, “Réaliser une vision,” esp. 59–63, and a further expan-
sion of these ideas in her “O Virginitas”; new light on the Ordo Virtutum: Hildegard,
Richardis, and the order of the virtues, in Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages, ed. Clifford
Davidson, 63–78. She does say in the vita that her nun Richardis was with her until she fin-
ished, and Richardis departed the Rupertsberg in 1152. See Theodoric of Echternach, “The
Life of Holy Hildegard,” II.v, trans. in Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, ed.
Silvas, 119–212, at 165.
4. There is disagreement about the date and the nature of the building consecrated at first,
although most scholars stay with 1151 or 1152. For discussion and bibliography, see Leigh-
Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the Heavenly Symphony, 174–76.
5. The Disibodenberg was located near the intersection of the Nahe and Glan rivers;
the building does not survive, but there are some ruins on the site. The ruins of the
Rupertsberg, on the other hand, were demolished for the building of a railroad in the
nineteenth century (but see below). The Abbey of Eibingen was reestablished in the early
nineteenth century near its original location, and is a functioning monastery today. A par-
ish church, just down the hill from the present monastery, is a restoration of the old con-
vent church of Eibingen, and retains the relics of Hildegard of Bingen. For Hildegard’s life
as the leader of a religious community, see especially two chapters in Voice of the Living
Light, ed. Newman: Newman, “ ‘Sibyl of the Rhine’: Hildegard’s Life and Times”; and
Van Engen, “Abbess: ‘Mother and Teacher.’ ” She apparently never had the title of abbess,
although it appeared in one document, and was called rather “magistra,” as was common
of female heads of communities operating in the sphere of the Hirsau reform movement.
Hildegard’s vitae (biographies) and the work that went forward in her lifetime and immediately
after to establish her fame are discussed in Newman, “Three-Part Invention”; Van Engen, “Letters
and the Public Persona of Hildegard”; and my “Volmar, Hildegard, and St. Matthias.” The texts of
all three lives in English with commentary are found in Silvas, Jutta and Hildegard: The Biograph-
ical Sources.
Allegorical Architecture in Scivias: Hildegard’s Setting for the Ordo Virtutum 319
created when there was both building at the Disibodenberg and intense
planning for the complex at the Rupertsberg as well as actual building.6
The play Ordo Virtutum is a complex musical work that can be divided
into several acts (see Table 2 below). It takes nearly an hour to perform, has
a cast including a large group of virtues, a Soul, and the Devil, and has been
called the first “morality” play.7 Among the most innovative aspects of the
play are its systematic progressions through tonal areas, and various theories
have been offered for the dramatic meanings of the musical structure of the
work as a whole.8 Hildegard’s treatise Scivias is a theological summa in three
books, one of the earliest works of its type from the central Middle Ages.
Book III of Scivias is based on an allegorical walled edifice comprised of
several columns or tower-like structures, representing the manifold progres-
sions that a soul can undergo on its life-long journey.9 Incorporated into the
end of Hildegard’s Scivias are both the text for a version of the Ordo Virtutum
and the texts for fourteen of her chants.
My thesis is that the Ordo Virtutum and the treatise Scivias were designed
to be understood interactively within Hildegard’s community, and indeed
that the form of the play and its music were developed within the allegorical
edifice Hildegard constructed in Scivias Book III. The works, then, were
created at the same time. After an introduction to the treatise and its sources,
the main argument of this study unfolds in three sections. The first describes
the allegorical Edifice of Salvation found in Scivias III and the manner in
which Hildegard has set the Ordo Virtutum within this structure. Next,
I look more closely at the music of the play and the ways it embodies a for-
mal journey related to selective parts of the Edifice of Salvation, incorpora-
ting details from later visions from Book III as well, and showing how the
play depicts a journey especially related to the lives of female monastics. This
6. There was also building going on at the Disibodenberg in the years before Hildegard and
the nuns departed. See Falko Daim and Antje Kluge-Pinsker, eds., Als Hildegard noch nicht in
Bingen war.
7. Although now widely anthologized, Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum was not included in ear-
lier general studies of medieval liturgical drama, in part because the nature of the work as “litur-
gical” has never been established. It was not considered in Young’s classic Drama of the
Medieval Church; in Smoldon, Music of the Medieval Church Dramas; in Hardison, Christian
Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages; in Flanigan, “Comparative Literature and the
Study of Medieval Drama”; or in Rankin, “Liturgical Drama.” One of the first studies of the
play in a collection is Dronke’s introduction to the work in his Nine Medieval Latin Plays,
147–57, now expanded upon in his edition in Corpus Christianorum.
8. See for example, Davidson, ed., Ordo Virtutum. Stefan Morent includes an overview of
the modal assignments of each speech in the OV and shows that there is progression from lower
to higher; see Morent, “Ordo virtutum.” Dabke, “Hidden Scheme of the Virtues in Hildegard
of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum,” is also attentive to mode, with reference to an unpublished study
by Susan Rankin. These studies are reprised in Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the
Heavenly Symphony.”
9. Hildegard uses the words columna (column or pillar) and turris (tower) in her descrip-
tions of the edifice. Both structures are characterized by some kind of gradation, rungs, or stairs.
leads to a concluding discussion of the relationships between the Ordo Vir-

tutum (the fully neumed play) and the Exhortatio Virtutum (the dramatic
scene without music included near the end of the treatise).
The Nature of the Sources
Because the treatise Scivias includes fourteen texts of her chants—the so-
called Scivias songs—and a short dramatic text copied without music, the
Exhortatio Virtutum (EV), the treatise is witness to the earlier stages of
Hildegard’s compositional activities. Apparently by the time that Scivias was
finished, Hildegard had already composed a number of chants, and, I will
argue here, the neumed version of her play, as well as, of course, the un-
noted truncated version that appears at the close of the treatise itself. Albert
Derolez claims that the major campaign of copying her works took place at
the Rupertsberg during the last decade or so of Hildegard’s life, that is from
around 1170–79, and indeed both surviving copies of Hildegard’s musical
oeuvre belong to this decade: Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek 2
(the so-called Riesencodex); and the fragmentary Dendermonde, Abteibi-
bliothek, Ms. 9 (which very likely once contained the Ordo Virtutum, but
presently does not).10 The early years of the campaign were doubtless super-
vised by Hildegard and her secretary and life-long friend Volmar, who died
in 1173.11 As Volmar related in a letter of around 1170, Hildegard nearly
died at that time, and this may have put a scare into the community, and a
desire to place her works—by that time nearing completion—into order for
wider distribution.12
10. Earlier scholarship on Hildegard’s scriptorium has been refined by Derolez, beginning
with his “Genesis of Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum” continuing with the pref-
ace to his edition of the Liber divinorum operum (with Dronke, 1996), and his overview: “Neue
Beobachtungen zu den Handschriften der visionären Werke Hildegards von Bingen.” Still use-
ful are Baillet, “Les miniatures du Scivias de Sainte Hildegarde,” and the foundational work of
Schrader and Führkötter, Die Echtheit des Schrifttums der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen. A full-
length study of the manuscripts has been published by Michael Embach: Die Schriften Hilde-
gards von Bingen, and updated in Embach and Wallner, “Der ‘Conspectus’ der Handschriften
Hildegards von Bingen.”
11. For a dated list of manuscripts of the three major treatises, see Derolez, “Neue
Beobachtungen zu den Handschriften der visionären Werke Hildegards von Bingen,” 482. He
dates the Rupertsberg copies as follows: The Risencodex (Wiesbaden 2), the core of which he dates
from 1175–79, contains all three treatises (among other works). Scivias (ca. 1141–52) is found in
Wiesbaden 1, 1170–79 (now missing, but photographs survive of the original), and Vatican, Bibl.
Vat. Pal. lat. 311, 1170–1179. Liber vite meritorum (ca. 1158–63) is in Dendermonde, Abteibi-
bliothek, Ms. 9, 1170–79; Trier, Seminarbibliothek, Ms. 68, 1170–79; and Berlin, Staatsbiblio-
thek, Ms. Theol.lat. fol. 727, 1170–79. Liber divinorum operum (ca. 1163–74) is found in
Gent, Universitätsbibliothek, Hs. 241, 1170–74; and Troyes, BM, Ms. 683, 1170–79.
12. Volmar closed the letter asking that God would restore Hildegard’s good health so that
her God-given gift might be “abundantly spread . . . for the edification of the whole Church.”
The copying of the sources demonstrates, according to Derolez, that

work went on fairly quickly and that the manuscripts provided for the scribes
to work from were in various stages of development, even of disarray.13 Ac-
cordingly, Rupertsberg codices were not made from a set of carefully pre-
pared and standardized exemplaria, but rather were made in a scriptorium
in which the major works were themselves in flux. This accounts for the nu-
merous errors of a great variety, and the ongoing correcting witnessed with-
in many of the surviving copies, including the two copies of Hildegard’s
music mentioned above, which are quite different one from the other in
their surface details. Volmar’s death in the midst of the campaign was surely
disruptive.
We know from Guibert of Gembloux, Hildegard’s secretary late in life
and one of her biographers, that she heard music during her visions and that
she later remembered the wordless melodies she heard, and put words to
them for singing in the liturgy of the church.14 So Hildegard herself
(through the mouthpiece of Guibert) tells us that the music came first and
then the texts. I have argued elsewhere that many of the chants do indeed
present formally as if they were received as sets of grand repeating melismas,
later provided with the prosulae of Hildegard’s poetry.15 Chronological
layers—early, middle, and later—can be tentatively identified respectively
with the Scivias material as the earliest layer; the so-called “miscellany” (a list
of sung texts found in the Riesencodex) reflecting a somewhat later develop-
ment; and at least some of the works associated with particular saints cults as
For the letter in English see Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, 2, Letter 195, 168–69, at 169. The
critical edition is Epistolarium, letter 195, vol. 91A, 443–45, at 445.
13. Gent 241, the earliest of the group, is the most interesting in this regard. Derolez,
“Genesis of Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum,” argues that it proves that
Hildegard’s works were indeed copied from wax tablets, creating a kind of autograph, which
then was revised and corrected before fair copy was made. Gent 241 represents the stage before
fair copy, and Volmar died in the midst of its production.
14. From a letter written in 1176, in which Guibert describes Hildegard’s visions: “More-
over, returning to ordinary life from the melody of that internal concert, she frequently takes de-
light in causing those sweet modes which she learns and remembers in that spiritual harmony to
reverberate with the sound of voices, and, remembering God, making a festive day from what
she remembers of that spiritual music, and often, delighted to find those same melodies in their
resounding to be more pleasing than those of common human effort, makes words for them for
the praise of God and in honor of the saints, to be sung publically in church. . . .” (Inde est quod
ad communem hominum conuersationem ab illa interni concentus melodia regrediens, dulces
in uocum etiam sono modos, quos in spirituali armonia discit et retinet, memor Dei, et in reli-
quiis cogitationum huiusmodi diem festum agens, sepius resultando delectatur, eosdemque
modulos, communi humane musice instrumento gratiores, prosis ad laudem Dei et sanctorum
honorem compositis, in ecclesia publice decantari facit. . . .; translation modified by Fassler.) As
found in Guibert, Epistolae que in codice B.R. Brux. 5527–5534 inveniuntur, 1, 226–34, at 231.
See also Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, 2, no. 104, 30.
15. See my “Angels and Ideas—Hildegard’s Musical Hermeneutic as Found in Scivias and
Reflected in ‘O splendidissima gemma,’ ” forthcoming in Unversehrt und unverletzt. Hildegards
Menschenbild und Kirchenverständnis heute, ed. Rainer Berndt with Maura Zátonyi.
among the last of the works.16 But the state of sources themselves, all of
them copied late in Hildegard’s lifetime, create problems for the develop-
ment of any hard and fast chronology of all her musical works, which may
have existed, in one form or another, apart from the texts themselves. No
copies of the melodies alone are extant, and other than the fair copies of her
music, we have little evidence of her compositional processes, the letter of
Guibert quoted above serving as an important piece of evidence. Accordingly
then, Hildegard clothed divinely received melodies with words of her own
invention, this process forming a parallel with the ways in which ideas from
the divine intellect were shaped through allegorical figures in her play and the
treatise Scivias.
There is yet another aspect of Hildegard’s Scivias that bears directly upon
her creative output and the meanings of its theological program as a whole:
at least two copies of the treatise were illuminated in the twelfth century.
One of these, now found in Heidelberg, was made at the Cistercian Abbey
of Salem (near Konstanz in southwestern Germany).17 But the other was
copied at the Rupertsberg scriptorium during the campaign described
above—Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek 1. Our access to this source
is complicated by the fact that the manuscript is presently missing, having
disappeared when it was taken with other sources to Dresden for safekeeping
in WWII; it has not been seen since 1945. However, in the late 1920s and
early 1930s some nuns of Eibingen, under the direction of Sr. Josepha
Knipps, made a handwritten copy of the treatise, duplicating it with extra-
ordinary care.18 The roles of the anonymous twelfth-century scribes were
taken by particular nuns, each of whom practiced the writing until she could
copy with fluidity and precision.19 Black and white photographs of the
16. For an overview of what is presently known of the layers within Hildgard’s musical oeu-
vre, see Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the Heavenly Symphony,” 174–78.
William T. Flynn has a study forthcoming of the “miscellany,” in which he argues that it reflects
a stage of development of Hildegard’s compositional oeuvre. For an earlier view of the miscel-
lany, see Newman’s introduction to her edition/translation of the Symphonia (1998), and also
her recent critical edition of the texts in Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis 226.
A second neumed copy of the Ordo Virtutum is found in British Library add. 15102, part of
a book prepared for the polymath Trithemius (1462–1516) while he was abbot of Sponheim
(1482–1505). See Davidson, “Another Manuscript of the Ordo Virtutum.” This fifteenth-
century neumed copy of the play was not directly prepared from that found in the Riesencodex,
and hence we know that yet another version must have been extant at the time of its copying;
moreover this is not the lost Vienna codex, described in Denis, Codicis manuscripti theologici
Bibliothecae palatinae, vol. 2, part 2, cols. 1723–31, which closely follows the Risencodex in its
organization. For further discussion, see Dronke’s introduction to the critical edition of the text;
Corrigan’s edition compares the music of both the Wiesbaden and the London sources.
17. See Liber Scivias: Farbmikrofiche-Edition, ed. Kohle. This manuscript has been digitized
and placed online at the library’s website: http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/salX16.
18. A facsimile of this modern manuscript has now appeared: Liber Scivias: Rüdesheimer
Codex: aus der Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Hildegard.
19. The names of the specific Eibingen nuns who made the copy are presently unknown.
original twelfth-century manuscript survive as well (see Fig. 1a), and one can
see from the details how close the handwriting samples and the illuminations
from the twelfth-century manuscript are to the copy made by the nuns of
Eibingen in the twentieth century (see Fig. 1b).20 The colored copies of the
illuminations often seen today are all taken from this modern work, as are
the colored plates found in the online version of the Journal.
The situation, then, is complex. We have (1) a treatise, Scivias, that in-
cludes chant texts and a version of the play, both copied without music
(and with no intention of providing neumes, at least in any of the surviving
copies); (2) two sources that contain neumed versions of the fourteen
chant texts (in addition to other pieces as well); (3) a single neumed copy
of the Ordo Virtutum dating from Hildegard’s lifetime; and (4) a single
illuminated Rupertsberg copy of Scivias, copied in Hildegard’s monastery
during the last decade of her life, but now missing, and believed lost. We
also have (5) a very precise twentieth-century hand-painted copy of the
illuminated Scivias made by nuns of Eibingen. In addition, (6) the state of
the twelfth-century sources, including the two copies of Hildegard’s musi-
cal oeuvre, is such that all the surviving manuscripts produced in the
Rupertsberg scriptorium were made in the last decade of Hildegard’s life,
and so postdate the period in which Hildegard wrote Scivias, and the texts
of the musical works associated with it, by around two decades.21
These vexed circumstances should not detract from the unique richness of
the sources. Indeed what we have—taken as a whole—is the only surviving
program from the Middle Ages, and indeed from the entire Western canon,
that includes: a major theological treatise by a gifted composer, and one that
features texts of some of her compositions, both lyrical and dramatic, as a part
of its workings; a program of illuminations that were most probably executed
under the control of this theologian/composer; and lastly, the music for the
dramatic and lyrical texts found in the treatise. In combination—as they
were surely meant to be known—these items offer a vast twelfth-century
Gesamtkunstwerk, and one that would have been comprehended over time
by the very community responsible for production of the artifacts that con-
tain its individual elements. The manuscripts are witnesses to the twelfth-
century material culture of these Benedictine nuns from the Rhineland, and
20. The nuns of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard of Eibingen own both the manu-
script prepared under the auspices of Sr. Josepha Knipps, as well as a set of black and white pho-
tographs of the original twelfth-century manuscript, and the visuals presented in this study have
been made available with their kind permission.
21. Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. 963 is a thirteenth-century manu-
script from St. Maria in Rommerdorf (Premonstratensian). Van Acker has argued convincingly
that it was copied from Volmar’s earliest edition of Hildegard’s letters, ca. 1170: see Van Acker,
“Der Briefwechsel der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen.” The version of the so-called miscellany
found in Cod. 963 contains an early copy of the final song of the OV, demonstrating the fluid
nature of Hildegard’s dramatic materials.
Figure 1a The angelic hosts, an illumination accompanying Scivias I.vi, as found in the original
12th-century manuscript; Wiesbaden 1, fol. 38r
close study of them will continue to reveal how they preserved theology, art,
music, and drama, and for what particular purposes.
Scivias is comprised of three books, each of which relates to the creation
story of Genesis and the subsequent recreation narrative that begins for
Hildegard with the Incarnation. Although the openings of each of the three
books are parallel expositions of common themes, each is very different, and
Figure 1b The angelic hosts, an illumination accompanying Scivias I.vi, as found in a 20th-
century copy of the source represented in Figure 1a; Rüdesheimer Codex, Benediktinerinnenabtei
St. Hildegard, fol. 38r. This figure appears in color in the online version of the Journal.
makes a preface appropriate to the arguments and subjects of that particular

book. The illuminations from Wiesbaden 1 are representations of what
Hildegard saw in her prophetic visions, and the text of the treatise consists
of her recalling the visions one by one, with each followed by an explanation
of the vision.22 There are a total of 26 visions (27 counting the author’s por-
trait, which shows her receiving messages from the Living Light), each
vision creating a kind of chapter for the book in which is it contained, and
so driving the form of the whole: Book I: 7 visions (including the portrait);
Book II: 7 visions; and Book III: 13 visions. The number of illuminations in
Wiesbaden 1 is somewhat greater than the number of visions described
because some of the visions are depicted with more than a single illumina-
tion. The numbers of illuminations are as follows: Book I (including the
preface): 9; Book II: 9; Book III: 17, for a total of 35 paintings, most occu-
pying a full page, but a few smaller in size. There is a kind of symmetry in the
two sets of numbers, for if the ongoing story described at the end of the trea-
tise were complete, there might then be four sets of 7 and four sets of 9, but
the progression is not “finished,” as the process of salvation described in the
treatise as a whole reveals. The themes suggested by these numbers are em-
bodied as well in the scenes of the Ordo Virtutum and its formal structure as
described below, which is also deliberately open-ended. Number symbolism
often matters to thinkers who were also involved in designing and producing
buildings, as was Hildegard.23
The Setting of the Ordo Virtutum
Table 1 below offers a kind of compendium of the virtues as Hildegard pre-

sented them in Scivias, which includes the Exhortatio Virtutum (EV) at its
close, comparing these to the virtues found in the Ordo Virtutum. The vir-
tues are the major “characters” of Hildegard’s Scivias and of her music
drama, and their natures are derived from several works that Hildegard knew
well in her voluminous reading of both common and uncommon texts, al-
though created with powerful Hildegardian twists. Two of the many sources
especially important to Hildegard’s development of these “characters” were
22. The only illumination that does not depict one of Hildegard’s visions is the first one, her
famous portrait, found in Wiesbaden 1 as part of the preface of the first book. For further dis-
cussion of the portrait, see my “Volmar, Hildegard, and St. Matthias.” In Rupertsberg copies
of Scivias, the texts revealing the actual visions are marked with small red cedillas in the margins
of each line; in modern editions (and in this article), the texts of the visions proper are italicized.
23. For a good example, see Overesch and Günther, Himmlisches Jerusalem in Hildesheim.
Scivias contains an exposition of the number ten as related to the construction of the temple and
the perfection that will be achieved in heaven when human beings fill in the missing number of
the tenth rank of angels that fell with Lucifer (Scivias III.ii.18–20, 43A:363–66; 334–36). The
two numbers in the series mentioned here would be made complete by seven, the days of the
week, moving to eight, with the coming of a completing Sunday; and nine, of course, has many
Trinitarian implications. Nine also suggests eventual arrival at ten, the architectural number of
completion that fascinated Hildegard, who thought of the incomplete church as a replica of the
incomplete body of Christ, to which souls were being won.
Table 1 Virtues in Scivias, compared to the Ordo Virtutum (OV) and Exhortatio Virtutum
(EV), the Speculum Virginum (SV) and the Rule of St. Benedict (SB)
Virtues italicized and in bold are in both the EV and the OV
Numbers represent the order of the virtue in the OV. The RB column has a yes for Virtues par-
ticularly singled out, but “no’s” are not provided as sometimes the virtue may be implied or is
mentioned in passing.
Scivias OV/EV In SV In RB
Book I
I, i.
Fear of the Lord (timor Domini) 4/No Yes Yes
Poor in Spirit (pauperes Domini) No/No No
Book III.i
Fear of the Lord 4/No Yes Yes
Faith 6/No Yes
Book III.ii
Faith (fides) 6/No Yes
Fear of the Lord (timor Domini) 4/No Yes Yes
Justice (iusticia) No/No Yes: Major
Knowledge of Good and Evil No/No No
Righteousness (rectum opus) No/No No
Book III.iii (Tower of the Anticipation of God’s Will)
Love of heaven (amor caelestis) 11/No No
Discipline (disciplina) 12/No Yes Yes
Modesty (verecundia) 13/No Yes Yes
Mercy (misericordia) 14/No Yes Yes
Victory (victoria) 15/Yes No
Patience (patientia) 17/No Yes Yes
Longing (gemitus) No/No No
Book III.iv (Pillar of the Word of God)
Knowledge of God (1) 1/1 No
(Scientia Dei)
Book III.vi (The Triple Wall)
Abstinence (abstinentia) No/No No
Liberality (largitatis) No/No No
Piety (pietas) No/No Yes
Truth (veritas) No/No Yes
Peace (pax) No/No Yes
Beatitude (beatitudo) No/No No
Discernment (discretio) 16/No Yes Yes
Salvation No/No No
Book III, viii (Pillar of the Savior’s Humanity)
Humility (humilitas) (also xiii) 2/Yes Yes: Major Yes
Charity (caritas) 3/No Yes: Major Yes
Fear of the Lord (timor) (also I and II) 4/No Yes Yes
Obedience (obedientia) 5/No Yes Yes
Faith (fides) 6/No Yes: Major Yes
Hope (spes) 7/No Yes: Major Yes
(Continued )
Table 1 continued
Scivias OV/EV In SV In RB
Chastity (castitas) 8/No Yes Yes

(Innocence innocentia), (OV only) 9/No No
Grace of God (gratia dei) No/No Yes
Book III, ix (The Tower of the Church)
Wisdom (sapientia) No/No No
Justice (second time) (iusticia) No/No Yes as above
Fortitude (fortitudo) No/No Yes: Major
Sanctity (sanctitas) No/No No
Book III, x (The Son of Man)
Constancy (constantia) No/No Yes
Celestial Desire (but see above) No/No No
Compunction of the Heart No/No No
Contempt of the World 10/No Yes
Words of Concord (concordia) No/No No
Book III, xiii
Here is found the EV that features:
A generic group of Virtues
Knowledge of God (see above)
Humility (see above)
Victory (see above)
the Rule of St. Benedict (RB) and the Speculum Virginum (SV), a treatise
written in the Rhineland in around 1140 for the edification of nuns.24 Both
these works are also represented in Table 1.25 Hildegard’s virtues are ideas,
24. Hildegard wrote a commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, and in it she mentions the
Discernment of God, applying this Virtue to Benedict; she says Benedict made a wall of sanctity
from Charity; that he wrote in Fear and in Piety, in Charity and in Chastity. These are the only
Virtues Hildegard mentions in her commentary. On discretio, see Böckmann, “Discretio in
Benedict’s Rule and Its Tradition.” Humility, Hildegard’s Queen of the Virtues, is essential in the
Rule of St. Benedict. See Hildegard’s De Regula Sancti Benedicti, ed. Feiss, especially at 68. The
Speculum Virginum (SV) sometimes contained music, and Hildegard may have seen a noted
copy. British Library, Arundel 44 from the Cistercian monastery Eberbach am Rhein is the earliest
known copy of the Speculum Virginum. Hildegard visited Eberbach, and a now-lost twelfth-cen-
tury copy of Scivias was in this monastery as well: see Scivias, ed. Führkötter and Carlevaris. Co-
logne, Historisches Archiv der Stadt Köln, W 276a (destroyed in the tragic collapse of the
building in 2009) from the Augustinian house of St. Maria in Andernach was seemingly a direct
copy of Arundel 44: see Seyfarth, “The Speculum Virginum: The Testimony of the Manuscripts,”
in Listen, Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women. This collec-
tion contains many important essays on the treatise: especially useful is Jeffreys, “ ‘Listen, Daugh-
ters of Light’: The Epithalamium and Musical Innovation in Twelfth-Century Germany.” The
treatise itself has been edited by Jutta Seyfarth in Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis
5, and translated by her into German: Speculum virginum=Jungfrauenspiegel.
25. Hildegard writes with a prophetic voice, and so rarely offers direct quotations from her
sources (except for the Bible); see Kienzle and Stevens, “Intertextuality in Hildegard’s Works.”
This can make fathoming the works she drew upon difficult. The most important works to
come forth from the mind of God to illuminate and to teach, and ultimately
to lead people back to God by entering into their intellects. The virtues are
not living creatures, although they appear in human form. According to
Hildegard, they have always been perceptible by humans, both before the
Fall and after it. However after the Incarnation they became much stronger
and greater in number, meaning that the truth of God’s revelations was
more accessible to human beings because God had appeared to them in the
flesh, making divine intentions clearer than they had been before.26 When
speaking of the virtues that comprise Scivias III.iii, a group featured in Act
III of the Ordo Virtutum, Hildegard says:
. . . they do not work in a person by themselves, for the person works with
them and they with the person; just as the person’s five senses do not work by
themselves, but the person with them and they with the person, to bear fruit
together. (Scivias III.iii.3; 43A:376; 345–46)
The information contained in Table 1 is revelatory. The first column lists
the virtues found in Scivias, book by book, vision by vision. Column two in-
dicates which virtues found in Scivias are also found in the OV and the EV,
providing numbers for the order of appearance in the OV. Column three
indicates if each of the virtues of Scivias is found in the Speculum Virginum
(SV), and whether it has a major role, and column four indicates with a
“yes” if a virtue is given prominence in the Rule of St. Benedict. It can be
seen immediately from column two that the virtues featured in the play op-
erate in particular towers or pillars of the Edifice of Salvation (see Figs. 2a
and 2b); they have been deliberately selected for the Ordo Virtutum because
of their “locations.” In addition, Hildegard has created the groupings in
Scivias so that the Benedictine virtues are concentrated in those very alle-
gorical towers/pillars where she will situate the play, pointing to the con-
clusion, developed further below, that the Ordo Virtutum is a play about
and for monastic life, especially that of nuns. Virtues that are encountered
influence Hildegard’s Scivias in general are Gregory the Great’s sermon on Luke 15 (no. 34),
discussed in my “Hildegard’s Virtues”; for the text of the sermon, see Ehrman, Homiliae in
Evangelia. Also seemingly influential was Shepherd of Hermas, a second-century mystical treatise
that Hildegard knew in one form or another; see Ehrman, ed., Shepherd of Hermas, and
Bogdanos, “Shepherd of Hermas and the Development of Medieval Visionary Allegory.” The
Shepherd of Hermas was originally written in Greek, but survives whole only in the Latin, of
which nearly twenty copies were made in the Middle Ages. Most of these copies postdate the
twelfth century, a time when the work was exceedingly rare, but Hildegard surely found her way
to a copy (as she was able to do with many obscure theological works). She also doubtless knew
Prudentius’s Psychomachia, a work that was highly influential throughout the Middle Ages, and
was sometimes illuminated. Hildegard seems to have been an early student of the writings of the
late eleventh-century Anselm of Canterbury as well, although the relationship between these
two authors is yet to be worked out, as is Hildegard’s place in the world of twelfth-century the-
ology and philosophy of religion in general.
26. These ideas are explored in some detail in my “Angels and Ideas.” A concise introduc-
tion to Hildegard’s thoughts on the subject are found in Scivias III.ii.1.
Figure 2a The Edifice of Salvation, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.ii, with East at
the top of the edifice, as found in the original 12th-century manuscript, Wiesbaden 1, fol. 130v
multiple times in Scivias were also chosen from among the Benedictine
virtues.
The general statement made by all the virtues featured in Scivias can be
found by tracing the journey through The Edifice of Salvation, depicted in
the illumination accompanying Scivias III.ii (Fig. 2a) and in the painted
version of the image (Fig. 2b). In the subsequent visions in the treatise,
Hildegard leads the reader systematically around the circle, beginning in the
Figure 2b The Edifice of Salvation, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.ii, with East at
the top of the edifice, as found in a 20th-century copy of the source represented in Figure 2a;
Rüdesheimer Codex, Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Hildegard, fol. 130v. This figure appears in
color in the online version of the Journal.
East (top of the page), circling to the viewer’s left (the North), moving down
to the West, and ending the journey in the South, with the approach to the
incomplete body of Christ that reigns in the East, which was the beginning of
the journey. This depiction of motion through an allegorical architecture
leads to a conclusion of struggles with the Antichrist, a period of judgment,
and then the glorious singing that will prevail at the end of time (Psalm 150).
In the course of this journey through Scivias III, the reader encounters
thirty-four virtues (give or take depending on reckoning), some more than
once. Fear of the Lord and Poor in Spirit (a counterpart of Humility), both
of which are crucial in the Rule of St. Benedict, play significant roles in Book I
as well. According to Hildegard’s reworking of Luke 15, God (like the
woman in the parable) had ten coins but humankind fell and was lost. In the
act of redemption Christ, again like the woman in the parable, “called
together His friends, namely earthly deeds of justice, and His neighbors,
namely spiritual virtues, and said ‘Rejoice with Me in praise and joy, and
build the celestial Jerusalem with living stones, for I have found Man,
who had perished by the deception of the Devil!’ ” (Scivias III.ii.20;
43A:366; 336).27 Music plays a major role in this work because it is a
feature of angelic praise, and humankind is to win back the space
among the heavenly hosts that Lucifer and his band lost when they fell.
The work will be to unite humankind with the angelic hosts, regaining
the space that belonged to the original tenth order of angels, and joining
in their song.28
Spiritual virtues aid in recovering the prey of Satan, by inspiring appropri-
ate penance, good works, and acts of praise. Through discussions in several
passages found in Scivias III Hildegard explains the major ways the virtues
work within and for human beings: (1) They encourage humans to build the
Heavenly Jerusalem of faith and works within themselves, so they may
return to their rightful place in the cosmos;29 (2) They act out, or display,
the ways that humans struggle, lamenting their failings: according to
27. The parable of the lost drachma, or coin, is found in Luke 15, a chapter of the New Tes-
tament that Hildegard cites in several places in Scivias, an expansion upon Gregory the Great’s
sermon referenced above. Luke 15 also contains the parable of the lost sheep and the story of
the Good Samaritan. She quotes directly from the parable in the Ordo Virtutum: Humility’s
opening charge to the virtues is to find the lost drachma. In other references to Luke 15: the
virtues console and encourage Anima through hope in the Good Shepherd; the virtues’ hymn
of praise at the close of the play speaks of God’s destruction of the hellish draught in “publicans
and sinners.” For discussion, see my “Angels and Ideas”; Flynn, “Singing with the Angels”; and
Iversen, “ ‘O Vos Angeli’: Hildegard’s Lyrical and Visionary Texts.”
28. Scivias III.ii.19; 43:364; 335: “. . . in this height of blessedness, he was to augment the
praise of the heavenly spirits who praise God with assiduous devotion, and so fill up the place left
empty by the lost angel who fell in his presumption.”
29. See especially Scivias III.ii.2–3; 43A:351–52; 326 and the discussion of the two virtues,
Faith and Fear of the Lord: “. . . fear is the beginning of a just intention, and when that flowers
into sanctity by good works, it joins with blessed faith and reaches God in full perfection.”
Hildegard, the result of a successful struggle is penance followed by the praise

of God;30 (3) When the virtues win a soul from the Devil, they, in conjunc-
tion with angels and saints, celebrate victory.
But the general journey of Book III and the many virtues encountered
in the process has been transformed and streamlined within the play Ordo
Virtutum. Many more virtues operate in the treatise Scivias than are found
in the neumed play Ordo Virtutum; and only three individual virtues are
found in the dramatic scene at the close of the treatise (the EV). Table 1 dem-
onstrates not only that Hildegard was selective in the virtues she chose to use
in her dramatic works, but also that she has designed Scivias so that the play
makes sense within it, especially as a manifestation of the virtues important to
Benedictines, and even more to Benedictine nuns (see column 4).
Hildegard makes both play and treatise give special prominence to Knowl-
edge of God. She is the individual virtue that begins the play, and indeed she is
by herself in Scivias III.iv, placed in a scene in the treatise and near a tower that
explains the opening of the play itself. She is crucial to understanding both
Book III of Scivias and the OV (and the EV) because the virtues are ideas, and
the process of acquiring them is about knowing. The other virtues found in the
OV are grouped together in two columns/pillars of the Edifice of Salvation
found in Scivias III. These several virtues appear in two large sets, just as they
do in Scivias. The play, then, has been carefully set by Hildegard within partic-
ular places in the allegorical architecture of Book III; but Book III was special-
ly designed itself so this could happen. At the end of the play, the action
returns to virtues that entered earlier, Humility, and above all to Chastity.
So whereas the treatise follows a trajectory that moves systematically
through the allegorical space of this walled and turreted edifice—from East, to
North, to West, to South—the play does not. The play’s characters crisscross
the structure, minimizing some towers or columns and their characterizations
in the process and emphasizing others. As can be seen in Table 1, the play offers
a customized journey, showing how a particular soul achieves victory, with a
particular group of virtues especially involved. Hildegard argues that each per-
son is engaged in a struggle of his or her own, so it would not be surprising that
he or she would come to the edifice in a unique way. 31 However, the nature of
the specialized journey of the soul in the Ordo Virtutum has been tailored to
employ virtues of special importance in monastic life, and, we will see, especially
in that of nuns. It would seem that the Ordo Virtutum was conceived with
Hildegard’s own convent in mind, whereas the treatise as a whole (and the
EV at its close) offers a more general theological statement. The allegorical
30. In Scivias III.iii.13; 43A:387; 353, Hildegard describes the virtue Longing as “pale and
troubled, because her faith always sighs and sobs for eternal felicity. . . .”
31. Hildegard says of the operation of the virtues: “But there are differences among these vir-
tues; which is to say that, though they are unanimous in their desire, they work diverse works in
people” (Scivias III.viii.17; 43A:504; 442).
architecture of the Edifice of Salvation is modular: there is default motion

around the whole, and then there are specialized journeys for particular groups.
The Ordo Virutum offers one of these, that designed for nuns; and the Exhor-
tatio Virtutum offers another, that designed for virtually any person, or the
general reader.
In the analysis presented here it will be seen that the groupings of virtues
found in the treatise are foundational to and interactive with the Ordo Virtu-
tum; indeed the allegorical architecture of the treatise forms an imagined
“setting” for the play, and explains its form and accounts for the character of
its music. There is a lack of this kind of study—that is repositioning the play
within the treatise—probably because most scholars have believed that the
play was created after the treatise was written, and was generated later out of
the shorter version that Hildegard includes at the end of Scivias (the EV) (see
discussion below and note 53). But analysis of the treatise and of the neumed
play suggests the interdependence of the two works, with the Exhortatio com-
ing at the end as a version of the larger, and already extant, Ordo Virtutum.
Table 2 lays out the form of the play as based on the appearance of virtues
found in Table 1, showing the mode of each of the major pieces and shifts of
mode within the acts and interludes. It must be said at the outset that in gen-
eral Hildegard does not use the church modes (1–8) alone, but rather under-
stands tonality through the maneriae, that is in paired scales, four totalities
that offer the full range of both—authentic and plagal—with common finals.
It is for this reason that I will say Hildegard writes “in D,” and by that I mean
she explores the entire range of the pair of scales with a final of D. But she
also commonly transcends the D–E–F–G finals of the maneriae, and writes
in both A and in C, and even occasionally will use a short piece with a final
of B in the OV, always for dramatic effect.32 The music in Hildegard’s Ordo
Virtutum must “climb” and “descend” according to motions of the soul’s
journey depicted in her dramatic work. Hildegard has a strong sense of tonal
structures and of moving upward and downward through the maneriae, and
beyond their traditional boundaries, creating delays and expectations that re-
flect character development and dramatic action.
The acts of her play explore this dramatic sense of musical motion because,
as can be seen in Table 2, all acts of the play unfold within or at the foot of
the allegorical towers or columns of Scivias III, whereas the interludes are char-
acterized by longer chants that serve to move the action from one tower to
another, as a kind of processional music. The form of the play found in Table 2
is based completely on motion through Hildegard’s Edifice of Salvation
(Scivias III), and it is through this allegorical understanding that Hildegard
32. Hildegard’s use of modes and maneriae is in keeping with twelfth-century views of music
expressed in theorists associated with the Hirsau reform. For discussion, see McCarthy, “Aribo’s
De Musica and Abbot William of Hirsau”; and his Music, Scholasticism and Reform; as well as
Bain, “Hildegard, Hermannus, and Late Chant Style”; and her “Hooked on Ecstasy.”
Table 2 Smaller Dramatic/Music Units as found in the Ordo Virtutum (line nos. from Dronke’s edition of the text, CCCM, 226) General Location in Scivias:
Edifice of Salvation of Book III
OV/Line Nos. Characters/Action Location in the Edifice Mode/s
Act I Pillar of the Word of God, Scivias III.iv . . . and she looks sometimes at the pillar and sometimes at the people who are going to and fro
Scene 1, 1–22 Patriarchs and Prophets address the Pillar of the Word of God E to D to E
Virtues, who reply; trapped souls
lament
Scene 2, 23–66 Knowledge of God confronts Anima Pillar of the Word of God D to E
Between the Acts:
Interlude:
Scene 3, 70–79 “O Plangens Vox” Lament for Anima Transition E
Act II Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior, Scivias III.viii . . . in the pillar there is an ascent like a ladder from bottom to top
Scene 4, 80–142 Call to Action with Devil’s Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior D/E alternation
Interruption
Order of Virtues: Humilias; Karitas; Timor Dei; Obedientia; Fides; Spes; Castitas (with Innocentia)
Between the Acts:

Interlude
Scene 5, 143–166 “Flos campi cadit” and Contempt Transition alternation, but
with a climb to A
Act III Tower of the Anticipation of God’s Will, Scivias III.iii . . . seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Scene 6, 167–218 Journey to the Fountain of Life Tower of the Anticipation of God’s alternation, but with
Allegorical Architecture in Scivias: Hildegard’s Setting for the Ordo Virtutum
will some C and climb to B

Order of Virtues: Amor celestis; Disciplina; Verecundia; Misericordia; Victoria; Discretio; Patientia
335
(Continued )
Table 2 continued
336
OV/Line Nos. Characters/Action Location in the Edifice Mode/s
Scene 7, 219–271 The soul becomes penitent and is continues Soul moves from E to
received back D and can sing anew
Between the Acts:

Scene 8, 272–283 Virtues sing “O vivens fons” Transition E moves to D
(O Living Fountain) phrases; cadence on E
Movement to the place of battle, near the Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior
ACT IV Battle and Return to the Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior
Scene 9, 284–313 The battle and victory. D to C
The Devil (4) addresses the Soul, who responds to him now in D, and calls upon Humility and the other Virtues to aid her in the battle (mostly in D); Humility
calls on Victory to lead the charge, and Victory responds and completes the work of defeat, with a cry of triumph that has been foreshadowed musically (in C),
a passage from the Marian antiphon “Ave regina caelorum”; the Virtues respond briefly in E.
Scene 10, 314–340 Chastity has the last word, with a long solo, replied to by the Devil (5); Chastity gives answer. Mostly in D
Journal of the American Musicological Society
Virtues sing a song of praise to God: “O Deus.”
Preface to the next “Act”: The Gap in the Wall

Scene 11, 341–360 Postlude: the struggle goes on, and In E
the Virtues sing a description of the
work that remains.
has structured the drama and grouped the characters. The outline of the play
presented in Table 2 is, therefore, different from that offered by Dronke and
others, and this is so because I follow the form that comes from studying the
music of the play and of the characters, but in the context of their locations
within this allegorical setting.33 When one follows Hildegard’s design the
music falls into functional areas, demonstrating that she has employed both
mode and melody type to shape the ongoing narrative and the actions of the
characters within it.
Hildegard’s employment of tonal areas in the Ordo Virtutum has been dis-
cussed in the scholarly literature. There has been less work, however, on the
ways she uses particular melodies and phrases of melodies, in combination
with tonal areas, to define dramatic actions and characters. In the argument
to follow, I will claim that her sophisticated compositional strategies, unlike
anything else found in medieval sung drama, are related to Hildegard’s archi-
tecture allegory. This strategy created an opportunity to compose within a
large-scale sense of form, using tonal areas and melodic formulae to create
delay, build suspense, provide a sense of completion, and yet to keep the
ending deliberately unresolved, as is the case with the allegorical edifice in
which she has situated the play. Both play and the parts of the treatise it ex-
plored are left open, making room for each nun to situate her own actions and
acquisition of virtues within the ongoing drama of monastic life.
Act I: At the Pillar of the Word of God

The opening of the play itself demonstrates that Hildegard has situated the
Ordo Virtutum in Scivias III, and reveals a great deal about the virtues, who
they are and how they work in the history of humankind:
Patriarchs and Prophets:

Who are these, who are like clouds?
Virtues: You holy ones of old, why do you marvel at us?
The Word of God grows bright in the shape of humankind
And so we shine with him,
Building up the beautiful limbs of his body. (OV, 1–9)
In this opening scene, the patriarchs and prophets marvel at ideas that
grow brighter after the Incarnation, that is the virtues can gleam with the
greater understanding made possible by God’s appearance in human
flesh. These divine ideas, when known by humans, change them and
draw them into the church, which is the allegorical representation of the
body of Christ. These opening actions take place in Scivias near the Pillar
of the Word of God, located (see Figs. 3a and 3b) on the northeast section
33. See Ordo Virtutum, ed. Dronke, in Nine Medieval Latin Plays, and the works cited
above in note 8.
Figure 3a The Pillar of the Word of God, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.iv, as
found in the original 12th-century manuscript; Wiesbaden 1, fol. 145v. This pillar is located on
the left, or north side, of the Edifice of Salvation (depicted in Figures 2a and 2b).
of the Edifice, and described in Scivias III.iv. The virtues announce their
goal from the start, to gather souls within the heavenly embrace.
The Pillar of the Word of God as described in Scivias III.iv is located
in the North of the Edifice (that is on the left) and has three sides. The
Figure 3b The Pillar of the Word of God, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.iv, as
found a 20th-century copy of the source represented in Figure 3a; Rüdesheimer Codex,
Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Hildegard, fol. 145v. This figure appears in color in the online
version of the Journal.
Law faces east: golden branches grow out of this side from the root to the
summit, supporting Patriarchs and Prophets, sitting in chronological order,
beginning with Abraham. As in the opening of the Ordo Virtutum, these Old
Testament figures marvel at the Incarnation, locating the opening of the play
specifically in this column. The second side is the wall of Grace, facing North,
so figures from the New Testament can stand in opposition to the Devil, typi-
cally located in the North in allegorical treatments. Standing in the light of the
Gospel are apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins (Hildegard singles out the
virgins as those following “the Supernal Branch”), and other saints. Clearly,
Hildegard had the Scivias songs in mind when she wrote this part of the
treatise, for they include not only songs for the Patriarchs and Prophets, but
also songs for each category of saint specifically mentioned here.34 The third
side of the tower faces South, and is concerned with the exposition of
Scripture, and is peopled by the doctors of the church, the kind of work that
Hildegard herself was doing (and for which she has recently been officially
recognized by the Roman Catholic Church).35
In addition to establishing the identity of the virtues, the opening section of
the play sets up the musical tensions that will be explored throughout the work
as a whole. Melodic qualities are used to make dramatic points and to manifest
the psychological states represented by or appealed to through particular vir-
tues while situating the action within the allegorical structure of Scivias III.36
The Prophets and Patriarchs are seen as the roots of a vast tree-like plant,
whereas the virtues are the lofty branches, able to be seen and contemplated
because they grow so bright after the Incarnation and the understanding it
makes possible for the human intellect to learn new things. The play’s music
underscores the relationship: the Patriarchs and Prophets explore only the
lower part of the D-centered music, whereas the Virtues soar into the upper
34. The text is crucial for understanding not only the meanings of Hildegard’s dramatic
works, but also her Scivias songs, identified and discussed in my “Composer and Dramatist,” and
in Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the Heavenly Symphony.” The songs are ordered
following the position of saints in the Pillar of the Word of God, and resound in this section of the
architectural scheme: Scivias III.iv.11; 43A:397; 361–62: “And in the radiance, which is so widely
diffused, you see apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins and many other saints, walking in great joy.
For in the clear light in which My Son preached and spread the truth there have grown up apostles
who announce that true light, and martyrs who faithfully shed their blood like strong soldiers,
and confessors who officiate after My Son, and virgins who follow the Supernal Branch, and all
My other elect, who rejoice in the fountain of happiness and the font of salvation, baptized by
the Holy Spirit and ardently going from virtue to virtue.” “Virtue to virtue” is a quotation from
Vulgate Psalm 83:8, which relates directly to the building of the Heavenly Jerusalem: “For the
lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen
in Sion.” There were altars dedicated to these categories of saints at the Disibodenberg, and
Hildegard may have established such holy places in her new church as well.
35. Hildegard was named a saint on May 10, 2012, and a Doctor of the Church on
October 7, 2012. For an overview of the processes of canonization and bedoctoring, see
Newman, “St. Hildegard, Doctor of the Church,” and Ferzoco, “Canonization and Doctoriza-
tion of Hildegard of Bingen.”
36. Jungian psychoanalyst Joerg Rasche has said in private discussion that the great therapist
is able to imagine inner states of good health for and with his/her patient. Hildegard tried to do
this for her own community through the virtues: allegorical characters given form through art and
music help those who come to know them imagine various stages of goodness within themselves.
part of the octave in D material, making a graphic contrast. For example, the
initial question of the Patriarchs and Prophets—“Who are these like
clouds?”—is in the lower part of the range, whereas the Virtues’ lofty response
reaches upwards (see Ex. 1a). Hildegard’s use of graphic literalism in her
music provides numerous clues both for performance and for staging of the
work. Hildegard is quick to establish the other musical polarity operating in
the play, and that is the lamenting music composed in E. The lost souls that
appear at the opening of the play provide a simple and memorable example;
soon afterwards, when the virtues sense that Anima is slipping, they sing to
her in E (Ex. 1b).
The Patriarchs and Prophets address all the virtues, but Knowledge of God
is the first individual virtue to appear in the play, and is a dominant character in
Scivias III.iv as well. In Scivias this virtue has many attributes, but Hildegard
gives her one that will be taken up especially in the play Ordo Virtutum:
Knowledge of God knows those who leave the wickedness of infidelity and, by
the power of God’s work, put on the new self in baptism for the sake of eternal
life. And she warns them not to turn backward and go toward the Devil, or, if
they do thus stray, that they should return to God their Creator, as she says to
each of them in the words of her admonition quoted above. (Scivias III.iv.22;
43A:407; 368)
The admonition mentioned in the treatise for this virtue contains precisely the
words that Knowledge of God sings in the Ordo Virtutum to the wavering
Anima: “Consider the garment you have put on, and do not forget your Creator
Who made you” (Scivias III.iv.preface; 43A:392; 358). Knowledge of God is
central both to the play and the treatise, and is the only virtue in the illumina-
ted Scivias to have her own painting. Knowledge of God explains the truth of
Scripture, mediating between angels, who know God all at once, and humans,
who are serial learners (Fig. 4), and so she is preacher-like in her stance, and
appropriately located near the Pillar of the Word of God, ready to expound the
sense of Scripture.
Here, at the opening of the play, melodic material in D associated with the
virtues also helps to define the character of Anima, the soul, who will begin her
long journey, after she falls, toward the recovery of her original melodic
material. 37 In her opening joyful speech, Anima answers the virtues in kind,
with the same D melody heard in their opening chant (compare Ex. 2a to
Ex. 1a). But a bit later, when the Soul’s “garment” grows heavy, and she wants
to cast it off, she can no longer make the opening interval of a fifth that char-
acterizes this particular melody (see Ex. 2b).38 Anima is weighed down, and
37. Scivias I.vi.4; 43:103–4; 141: “For people have within themselves struggles of confes-
sion and of denial. How? Because the one confesses Me and that one denies Me. And in this
struggle the question is: ‘Is there God or not?’ ”
38. I make this point also in Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the Heavenly
Symphony,” 187.
Example 1a The patriarchs and prophets sing to the virtues, who respond; Wiesbaden 2, fol.
278v. A sound recording of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Patriarche et prophete
& œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Qui sunt hi, qui ut nu - bes?
Virtutes
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
O an - ti - qui san - cti, quid ad - mi - ra - mi - ni in no -
& œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ
bis?
Patriarchs and Prophets: Who are these like clouds?

Virtues: O ancient holy ones, why do you wonder at us?
Example 1b The virtues sing a warning to the Soul; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 479r. A sound record-
ing of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Virtutes ad animam illam

& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
O a - ni - ma, uo - lun - ta - te de - i con - sti -
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
tu - ta, et o fe - lix in - stru - men - tum, qua - re tam
!e - bi - lis es con - tra hoc, quod de - us con - tri -
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
uit in uir - gi - ne - a na - tu - ra? tu de - bes in no -
bis su - pe - ra - re di - a - bo - lum.
O soul, established by the will of God, and O blessed agent, why will you weep when confronted
with the evil God conquered through the virginal nature? You must conquer the Devil among us.
cannot join fully in the virtues’ characteristic D melody. The music makes it
clear both that she cannot respond in kind, and that to respond—to sing back
the virtues’ encouraging and self-defining D material—is a musical allegory for
Figure 4 The Virtue Knowledge of God, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.iv, as found
in the original 12th-century manuscript; Wiesbaden 1, fol. 146r. Knowledge of God stands at the
foot of the pillar of the Word of God.
the hope that drives the drama. It is not until late in the play that Anima will
exhibit a musical as well as a dramatic recovery. To encourage in D is one of
the virtues’ functions, and the loss of the fifth in Anima’s D material provides
a fine example of the ways Hildegard works in her settings of the text and
Example 2a The joyful Soul; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 478v. A sound recording of this example
appears in the online version of the Journal.
Felix anima
& œ œ œ
œ bœ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ
O dul - cis di - ui - ni - tas, et o sua - uis ui - ta,
O sweet Divinity; O lovely life
Example 2b The weighed down Soul; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 479r. A sound recording of this
example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Sed grauata anima conqueritur
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
O gra - uis la - bor et o du - rum pon - dus, quod ha - be - o
& œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ
in ue - ste hu - ius ui - te, qui - a ni - mis gra - ue
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œœœ
mi - hi est con - tra car - nem pug - na - re.
But the weighed down Soul complains: O oppressive work and O cruel weight that I bear
in the garment of this life, since it is excessively hard for me to ght against the esh.
the musical expectations she builds for the hope of Anima’s journey back
to God.
Hildegard signals the end of every “act,” each of which is situated in
a particular part of the Edifice, by a musical interlude. As suggested in
Table 2, in each case the interludes feature an especially long chant, and one
that is foreshadowed by the action and the musical phrases that lead up to it,
as a more inclusive statement, while also looking ahead, both textually and mu-
sically to what is to come. If there were processions from one area of the church
(or setting) to another for each act, these pieces would provide the necessary
traveling music. If, on the other hand, the play was enacted in choir, the inter-
ludes would offer a time to ready the mind for encounters with new modes of
action and groups of characters. Whatever the case of the physical setting, the
interludes serve to move musically and psychologically from one set of virtues
to another, and are a crucial aspect of the play’s allegorical setting.
The first of these processional pieces is the virtues’ song “O plangens uox”
(O wailing voice), separating Act I from Act II. “O plangens uox” forms a
catalogue of E melodies that will continue to appear throughout the play,
casting them in the form of a lament responding to the first example of the
Devil’s “noise,” strepitus, the word Hildegard uses to describe his speech.
The text mentions Innocence, a virtue who will soon be encountered in the
play. It is she who “lost no perfection . . . who did not devour greedily, with
the gullet of the serpent” (from “O plangens uox”), making the point that
these virtues are in the company of unfallen angels, and their counterparts are
the rank of angels that are called “Virtues,” the living angelic embodiments
of the divine ideas represented by the virtues. Here the melody immediately
underscores text and dramatic situation: the opening of the piece moves
upward from D in a line that includes the pitch F twice, up to B n, and then
back to F on “uox,” the phrase offering a tritonic cry of anguish (see Ex. 3).
It is crucial for the dramatic sense that an editorial B b not be supplied here,
and that the singers take time with the phrase to create the full dramatic effect
of wailing. The text of “O plangens uox” describes a soul filled with love for
God, but with the seeds of lust hidden within, in the ways that the opening is
infected by the tritone. The particular set of virtues operating in the play are,
to a degree, concerned with the vice of lust, one that may have had special
prominence in the monastic life. Lust lies in wait, eager to become a strain of
the mysterious love that a soul may feel for God.
“O plangens uox” exemplifies Hildegard’s use of melodic materials to
reflect textual meanings and to provide continuity within a speech, either by
a group of virtues or by an individual. The wailing introductory tritone is fol-
lowed by cries of woe in E, on the words “ach, ach,” “heu, heu,” and “luge,
luge.” As can be seen from the outline of the piece provided below, which in-
dicates some groups of interrelated melodic material by letters, there are sev-
eral such complexes, but much of the music is generated out of what is labeled
as “B” in the example. The various ways Hildegard unites a piece through the
reuse of the same musical riffs is characteristic, and these repetitions make
her chant wonderfully singable and musically engaging. As the text of any
given speech or section unfolds, the music offers points of restatement, and
the two modes of development–textual and musical—are in counterpoint, as
can be seen in “O plangens uox.”
O plangens uox
O plangens uox est hec maximi doloris ACH ACH
[O wailing sound of great sorrow is this]
A: quedam mirabilis uictoria [a certain amazing victory already arose]
B: in mirabili desiderio dei c. surrexit
[in its wondrous desire for God]
B': in qua delectatio carnis se
[in which delight of the flesh secretly hid itself]
labenter abscondit HEU HEU (same music as Ach, ach)
B: ubi uoluntas crimina nesciuit [where formerly the will knew no crime]
B": et ubi desiderium hominis lasciuias fugit c. LUGE LUGE ERGO
[and where desire fled human wantonness] [Therefore mourn, mourn]
B Variation: in his innocentia que in pudore bono
[for this, Innocence, who in your good modesty]
Example 3 The lament “O plangens uox”; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 479r. A sound recording of this
example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Virtutes
& œ œ œ œ
m œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ
O plan - gens uox est haec ma - xi - mi
A
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
do - lo - ris. Ach ach que - dam mi -
B
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ mœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
ra - bi - lis ui - cto - ri - a in mi - ra - bi - li de - si - de - ri - o
c B'
& œm œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
de - i sur - - - rex - it, in qua de - le - cta - ti - o
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ œ
car - nis se la - ten - ter abs - con - dit.
B
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
He - u he - u u - bi uo - lun - tas cri - mi - na
B''
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
m
ne - sci - uit, et u - bi de - si - de - ri - um ho - mi - nis
c B variation
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
la - sci - ui - am fu - git. Lu - ge, lu - ge er - go in his, in - no - cen -
A'
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ
m œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
ti - a, que in pu - do - re bo - no in - te - gri -
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
ta - tem non a - mi - si - sti, et que a - ua - ri -
& œ œ œ œ œ mœ œ œ œ œœ œ œm œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œmœ œ œ
ci - am gut - tu - ris an - ti - qui ser - pen - tis
Example 3 continued
A''
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ
m
i - bi non de -
& œ œ œ œm œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
uo - ra - - - - sti.
A': integritatem non amisisti [lost not your virginity]

et que auaritiam gutturis antiqui serpentis [and did not devour with
the greed of the gullet of the old serpent.]
A": ibi non deuorasti
Act II: The Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior and the Flowering
Branch of the Virgin
The processional music “O Plangens Uox” moves the action of the play to a
different structure in the Edifice of Salvation, to the Pillar Savior’s Humanity
(located to the Southwest of the edifice depicted in Fig. 2, and seen there with
two people climbing upwards). The first major group of virtues found in the
OV appears in the same order as found in Scivias III.viii, where they work as
part of the Pillar of the Savior’s Humanity.39 As can be seen in Figure 5, the
detailed illumination of the pillar features a ladder on which the virtues move
up and down; in the description, they are carrying stones that relate to the de-
velopment of goodness within human souls. There are seven virtues especially
associated with this tower and these are the first group in the sung play as well,
their particular cluster forming Act II (there is an eighth, Grace, in Scivias, but
Hildegard does not include it in the play; she wants seven, with Humility).
This first group of virtues summoned by Humility includes Charity, Fear of
the Lord, Obedience, Faith, Hope, and Chastity (expanded with Innocence
in the OV and included in the Interlude following Act II). Hildegard’s ladder
for virtues (unlike the figure found in the Speculum Virginum) features fe-
cund figures, seated in the position of the Virgin Mary as in Seat of Wisdom
(Sedes Sapientiae) iconography, producing knowledge of Christ within the
tabernacles of their wombs (see Figs. 5a and 5b).40 The play arrives in this part
39. This pillar or column has many aspects, some of which relate to Scivias I.iv, the forma-
tion of human souls and their paths to salvation, travelling from good work to good work, as led
by the virtues. Of importance to the OV is the discussion in I.iv.8, which includes the lament of
a soul, and in I.iv.9 of Scientia Dei, who sees all things and who looks upon the clear statement
made by the Incarnation.
40. An introduction to the image and its meanings in the twelfth century is found in
Forsyth, Throne of Wisdom.
Figure 5a The Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.
viii, as found in the original 12th-century manuscript; Wiesbaden 1, fol. 178r
of the walled city because of the special nature of the virtues found here:
they can teach the faithful soul to call Christ beloved (Scivias III.viii.16), and
when they do, there is music within (see Scivias III.viii.16 discussed below).
Hildegard explains the importance of this group of seven in Scivias III.
viii. They are linked to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, featured in Isaiah
11, a passage that describes the messianic lineage sprouting from Jesse, the
Figure 5b The Pillar of the Humanity of the Savior, an illumination accompanying Scivias III.
viii, as found a 20th-century copy of the source represented in Figure 5a; Rüdesheimer Codex,
Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Hildegard, fol. 178r. This figure appears in color in the online version
of the Journal.
father of David, King and Psalmist.41 This shoot from Jesse’s root blossoms
through allusion to Numbers 17, which depicts the flowering rod of Aaron
the priest. Speaking in the terms of Christian allegory, the shoot is the Virgin
Mary, and the flower is her son, and the plant blooms through incarnational
power. This theme was expressed in many media in Hildegard’s lifetime, and
its iconography is often based on the office responsory “Stirps Jesse” (attrib-
uted to Fulbert of Chartres), a chant that Hildegard would have known.42
Hildegard is surely thinking of this chant when she draws out the meanings
of the flowering stalk: “from the root of that branch arose the sweet fra-
grance of the Virgin’s intact fecundity; and when it had so arisen, the Holy
Spirit inundated it so that the tender flower was born from her . . .” (Scivias
III.viii.15; 43A:497; 437). The iconography of Hildegard’s newly built
church may well have included some representation of this highly favored
image, for it is foundational to Scivias, as well as to the play and the songs.
The idea that this shoot and its pure flower can triumph over evil is crucial
for Hildegard’s theological viewpoint, for her notated play and its use of mu-
sical symbolism, and for her work as a leader of a group of consecrated vir-
gins. The flower “was born in the sweetness of divinity, untouched by
unworthy sin, without the knowledge and utterly without the influence of the
devious serpent” (Scivias III.viii.15; 43A:497; 437). Hildegard’s interpreta-
tion places great emphasis on virginity as the means by which sin and death
were ended; her incarnational theological themes give the miraculously
fecund Virgin Mary a substantive role as mediatrix in the story of salvation.
Here, in the Pillar of the Savior’s Humanity, Hildegard described the
appeal of the virgin-like longing of the faithful Christian soul: “And why is
He beloved? Because he treads underfoot whatever obstructs the faithful
soul, which is hastening to the heavenly places” (Scivias III.viii.16; 43A:
502; 440). The ideal state of the human soul is that of the Virgin Mary, a
soul in a pristine condition, longing for God. In accordance with the setting
41. Isaiah 11: [1] And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower
shall rise up out of his root. [2] And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wis-
dom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and
of godliness. [3] And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge
according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. [4] But he
shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay
the wicked. [5] And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.
42. The chant is found for the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Sept. 8), in Engelberg
Stiftsbibliothek Cod. 103, fol. 145r. Tova Leigh-Choate argues (see Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and
Fassler, “Hildegard as Musical Hagiographer,” at 195–99) that this early thirteenth-century
manuscript was made for an abbey in Sponheim, the town where Hildegard’s teacher Jutta was
raised and where Hildegard lived as a very young child. See also Felten, “What Do We Know
about the Life of Jutta and Hildegard at Disibodenberg and Rupertsberg?” On the history of
the responsory and exegetical themes associated with it, see my “Mary’s Nativity, Fulbert of
Chartres, and the Stirps Jesse.”
offered for the two groups of virtues in Scivias, we know that they are in
motion, up and down allegorical ladders—with reference to the shoot of
Jesse, as described above, the ladder of Jacob (Genesis 28:11–19), and the
Twelve Degrees of Humility (found in the Rule of St. Benedict, chap. 7).
They move within mystical pillars/columns, doing their triple work of encour-
aging, lamenting, and presenting. In Wiesbaden 1, the virtues are depicted
in the detailed images, as here in Figure 5, whereas human figures are shown
on this same pillar in the edifice of salvation, lower right (Fig. 2).
This aspect of the setting gives Hildegard a rationale for climbing higher in
her music incrementally, as she does in both Act II and Act III, and then
descending after the climb. Each of these parts of the play is set in an implied
tower or column with either a ladder or with divisions into seven stages. The
individual virtues, located on the ladder of the Pillar of the Savior’s Humanity,
for example, interact with Humility, who is their queen, and who calls them to
action. The music binds the collective virtues to her in the first set of speeches,
as both reply to the challenging words of the Devil. Humility says she recog-
nized the Devil as the ancient dragon who wished to rise up to the highest
place, but ended in the abyss. The music used for the phrase “qui super sum-
mum uolare uoluisti” (Ex. 4a) is repeated by the virtues, who taunt the Devil
through their response by singing that they are all in the highest place, to the
same notes Humility used to describe the place Satan aspired to earlier in his
career (see Ex. 4b). It is clear that the virtues have been summoned forth from
their place within the mind of God, expressing the joys of heaven to challenged
souls, and lifting them upwards through inspiring songs and words (descend-
ing through the humanity of the Savior; ascending through His divinity). The
Devil has lost the place to which the virtues would see humans return, regain-
ing the original place of Lucifer, mightiest of angels, once the sign of the dawn,
and of his minions.43 The virtues move up the ladder depicted in the treatise on
this pillar, and Humility initially stands at the bottom, on the lowest step.
The connection of the virtues of Act II to the flowering branch of
Virginity that grows upward from Jesse’s root can be seen throughout in the
texts Hildegard has written, filled with allusions to the flower and the
branch. Depicted in terms of the Song of Songs, the virtues encountered
here are held fast in the bedchamber of the Bridegroom, and they both en-
joy and model their place for souls in transition. These texts and the music
make it clear that this particular group moves slowly upward. Humility lays
the foundation on which all other good actions can be built; Love (Caritas)
43. Russell, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages; and Oldrige, Devil: A Very Short Introduc-
tion are useful overviews. For ideas about Satan as they play out in one of Hildegard’s
contemporaries, see Torrell and Bouthillier, Pierre le Vénérable. The Devil’s lasciviousness—central
to Hildegard’s understanding and her works on him—is a theme in many media in the Middle
Ages; see for example, Makhov, “The Devil’s Naked Tongue as an Iconographic Motif.” The
Devil’s male sexuality with allusions to the phallus makes it difficult to assume that either gender
might take the Devil’s role in the Ordo Virtutum, though in my view flexibility is desired.
Example 4a Humility and the virtues taunt the Devil; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 479r. A sound
recording of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Humilitas
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
E - go cum me - is so - da - li - bus be - ne sci - o, quod tu es il - le
œ œ œ œ œ
& œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
an - ti - quus dra - co, qui sup - er sum - mum uo - la - re uo - lu -
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œm œ œ
i - sti, sed i - pse De - us in a - bys - sum pro - ie - cit te.
Humility: I with my companions know very well that you are the ancient dragon, who wished to !y
over Highest one, but God himself threw you into the abyss.
Example 4b Humility and the virtues taunt the Devil; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 480r. A sound
recording of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Virtutes
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Nos au - tem om - nes in ex - cel - sis ha - bi - ta - mus.
Virtues: But all of us dwell on high.
teaches the commandment of Luke 10:27: to love God and neighbor; Fear
teaches people not to trust the ways of the flesh; Obedience keeps to the
way; Faith trusts; Hope looks to the world to come; and Chastity longs for
her Sweet Lover, taking the journey of the Soul to its highest point in Act II.
At first the calls and responses between solos of individual virtues and the
responses of the whole in Act II persist in the D and E realms that character-
ize Act I. But midway through, after a speech of the Devil, the tonal areas
too climb upward. One of the responses cadences on G, another on B, and
then the long response of the virtues to Chastity cadences on A (“Flos
campi”), but with a great emphasis on the pitch C (see Table 2 above). “Flos
Campi,” like “O plangens uox” discussed above, serves to mark a transitional
point, at the end of this act and the action of a particular group of virtues cho-
sen from Scivias, and serves as an interlude thus dividing Act II from Act III.
The chant represents the climb upwards of this particular ladder, but also
foreshadows the musical climb of the next group of virtues, which will rise to
even greater heights on their journey, with emphasis on the pitch C as a final
tonal area (see Ex. 5). It too, like “O plangens vox,” is a long chant, different
in style from what comes before and after it.
Example 5 Phrases in C that represent the climb upwards to the tonal area of C in Act 2;
Wiesbaden 2, fol. 480r.
Virtutes, two phrases from “Flos campi”
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ
Flos cam - - - pi
œ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ œ œ
& œ œ bœ œ
O uir - gi - ni - - - - - - tas,
Act III: The Tower of the Anticipation of God’s Will, Scivias III.iii
Act III of the Ordo Virtutum also has a setting identified by the virtues
Hildegard chose as characters in this part of the play: they are located in Scivias
III.iii, the Tower of the Anticipation of God’s Will: Heavenly Love, Discipline,
Modesty, Mercy, Victory, Discernment (Discretio) (borrowed from Scivias III.
vi), and Patience. Once again, Hildegard wanted a cluster of seven virtues in this
group, and she chose all but one of them from the Tower of the Anticipation
of God’s Will, and several of these are found in the Rule of St. Benedict as well,
continuing this emphasis in the play.44 In this tower, located on the Northeast
side of the edifice, the virtues are found in arcades that are part of the tower, or
located at the foot of the structure. To choose seven virtues once again pro-
vides continuity with the seven virtues selected for Act II, for she says that this
tower is “seven cubits high,” for there were “Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
Through this group, too, Hildegard references Isaiah 11 and the flowering
branch that sprouts from the root of Jesse, by mentioning the seven gifts of
the Holy Spirit. The ways in which the links between these virtues (both textu-
ally and musically) make a path for the journey of the soul could be explored in
great detail; here discussion is of only two features of this second upward climb.
Contempt of the World (Contemptus mundi) is the virtue featured in the
Interlude before Act III (Scene 5, see Table 2), and calls the virtues to the
Fountain of Life (Fons uitae). Here, as in so many other ways, Hildegard
puts Act II and Act III in parallel, expanding and intensifying tonal motion
found in Act II again in Act III, and creating the sense of two distinct alle-
gorical climbing structures. In this case, the call to the virtues by Contempt
parallels that given by Humility in Scene 4. Although the word “fons”
appears several times in Scivias, Hildegard uses the phrase “Fountain of Life”
very rarely in the treatise, most notably in Book III.viii, 13, just before the pas-
sage in which she references Isaiah 11, her description of the virtues in that
chapter as part of the flowering branch. In this description, the Fountain of
44. For discretio, see The Rule of St. Benedict 64, where it is called the mother of all virtues,
and relates especially to the conduct of the abbot/abbess.
Life is the Savior who runs in torrents, open to all who care to drink. But there
is more to know, and she provides this understanding in Scivias II.ii.4, where
the emphasis is on penance as the crucial state necessary to drink from the
Fountain of Life: “That through this Fountain of Life came the embrace of
God’s maternal love, which has nourished us unto life and is our help in perils,
and is the deepest and sweetest charity and prepares us for penance” (Scivias
II.ii.4; 43:127; 162). Penitence is the cure for the proud persuasions of Satan,
for he does not understand it and cannot practice it; penitence “will never fail
in efficacy” (ibid.). Hildegard links this group of virtues as well with the water
imagery of the Fountain toward which this group of virtues is called.
The virtues selected from Scivias III.iii, and placed in Act III, are preparing
souls for the penitence that will secure the victory of Act IV. They model a
journey to the Fountain to which Contempt of the World called them, and
this is reflected in powerful tonal motion to C, motion that was foreshadowed
by parallel development in Act II. As with Act II, here also Hildegard begins
with her two well-established musical polarities and their by-now-familiar me-
lodic complexes, one in D and one in E. Heavenly Love leads off in D and
is responded to by the virtues with their characteristic melodic phrases. Disci-
pline then sings its solo in E, with the common melodies, and in the low range
that is typical of this tonal area.45 She sings a text that Hildegard underscores in
a dramatic response from the virtues, claiming to be the lover of simple prac-
tices, always looking toward the King of Kings. The virtues respond in C, with
melodic phrases that are mindful in style of the C area sections of “Flos
campi” but that point ahead to the long section in C to follow, which, in this
particular Act, features the first solo of Victory who continues with the martial
language that has been introduced by other virtues in this act as well. Victory’s
first solo makes melodic allusions to the famous Marian antiphon “Ave Regina
Caelorum”—a piece to be featured in her singing in Act IV of the play—as can
be seen in the turn of phrase on “conculco” (I trample upon) (see Ex. 6, which
foreshadows phrases in C that will come later in the play, and compare with
Ex. 10). A reference to this familiar melody would have been understood by
all in Hildegard’s community.
In order to keep her desired number of seven virtues and the allusion to
the flowering branch established in Act II, Hildegard turns to Discernment
45. There is one unnamed virtue in the Ordo Virtutum, due to a scribal omission.
Böckeler, “Beziehungen des Ordo Virtutum der hl. Hildegard zu ihrem Hauptwerk Sci-
vias,” 139–40 and 144, and her Der Heiligen Hildegard von Bingen, 63–65 and 70, made
the argument for Discipline, accepted by most scholars, and certainly in keeping with the
virtues as Hildegard takes them, as a group, from Scivias III.iii for this act of the play. Dabke,
“Hidden Scheme,” disagrees with this interpretation, and makes a case for Heavenly Desire;
this decision is crucial for her argument as a whole (see 25–30). A synopsis of her ideas
about the play can be found in Leigh-Choate, Flynn, and Fassler, “Hearing the Heavenly
Symphony.” Whereas I find Dabke’s arguments useful in many of their aspects, I think the or-
ganization of the play and of its virtues are based on the groupings presented in Scivias, and
that Discipline is the missing name.
Example 6 Phrases that foreshadow Victory’s final song in Act 4; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 480r.
A sound recording of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
from Victoria’s speech “Ego Victoria”
œ œ œ œ œ œ
& œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ m
ser - pen - tem an - ti - quum con - - -
&
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
cul - - - co.
... I crush the ancient serpent.
(Discretio), borrowed from Scivias III.vi, who is depicted there carrying a

palm in her hands from which three twigs have sprouted forth and flower.
This major Benedictine virtue develops Hildegard’s chosen theme, as does
her parallel virtue in Act II, Contempt of the World, because her attributes
belong to the flowering branch, the controlling image for all the virtues fea-
tured in Acts II–IV of the Ordo Virtutum and because of the importance of
Benedictine virtues (as discussed above). But her inclusion as the penultimate
virtue in the group allows Hildegard a chance to delight in yet another show
of the graphic literalism that is explored in several instances throughout the
play, in this case the placing of Patience (Patientia) last in the group: she has
been patient! Her music too shows waiting and patience for she sings on B,
the note that waits in anticipation of Victory’s final song in C that will be the
climax of the work as a whole in Act IV (see Table 2).
Humility then returns, singing in the D tonal area with characteristic
melodic phrases, and calls again to the virtues to remember the original
pre-lapsarian creation to which they inspire humans to return. They lament
collectively in E, and at this point Anima arrives, but the soul has a new
name: “penitens,” meaning that she has achieved that quality—penitence—
encouraged by the virtues, and necessary for redemption. Anima sings in E,
but adds a new dimension to this tonal area, reaching up to lament for the
lofty beauty of the virtues on high, a beauty it once forsook (see Ex. 7), a strat-
egy that will be underscored in the music of “O uiuens fons,” discussed below
(see Ex. 9 below). With encouragement from the virtues, the Soul then moves
from E to D, a sign of restoration to health. The words of the fully penitent
Soul, sung in the lower part of the D range, form a confession (Ex. 8), and
Humility then asks the virtues to bring the soul to her so she can minister to
her, applying medicine to the wounds of sin:
Soul: I am the sinner who fled from life: riddled with sores I’ll come to you—
you can offer me redemption’s shield. All of you, warriors of Queen Humility,
her white lilies and her crimson roses, stoop to me, who exiled myself from you
like a stranger, and help me that in the blood of the Son of God I may arise. . . .
Humility: All you virtues, lift up this mournful sinner with all its scars, for the
sake of Christ’s wounds and bring it back to me.
Example 7 The Lament of the Soul, penitent and invoking the virtues; Wiesbaden 2,
fol. 480v. A sound recording of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Querela anime penitentis et uirtutes inuocantis
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
O uos re - ga - les uir - tu - tes, quam
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
spe - ci - o - se et quam ful - gen - tes e - stis in
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
&
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
sum - mo so - - le, et quam dul - cis est
œœœ
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ m œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ œœ
ue - stra man - si - o, et id - e - o o ue
œ œ
& œ œ m œ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
mi - hi, qui - a a uo - bis fu - gi.
The lament of the Soul, penitent and invoking the virtues: O you regal virtues, how beautiful and
how brilliantly gleaming you are in the highest sun, and how sweet is your dwelling place, and
so woe is me who ed from you
Example 8 The sinsick Soul asks for medicine; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 481r. A sound recording of
this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Anima illa
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ
Et o ue - ra me - di - ci - na, hu - mi - li - tas, pre - be
& œ œœœ
œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ m œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
mi - chi au - xi - li - um, qui - a su - per - bi - a in
& œœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ
œ œ
mul - tis ui - ci - is fre - git me, mul - tas
& œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
ci - ca - tri - ces mi - hi im - po - nens, nunc fu - gi - o ad
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
te, et id - e - o sus - ci - pe me.
And O true medicine, Humility, offer me aid since pride crushed me with many vices, giving me many scars,
but now I "ee to you, take me up.
The Final Interlude and Act IV: A Play without an End
The musical interlude “O uiuens fons” forms a fitting point of transition

from Act III to Act IV of the Ordo Virtutum, as is typical of the long chants
found in each entr’acte (see Table 2). It has been demonstrated that
Hildegard has used two tonal areas throughout the play, D and E, and that
each has characteristic melodic phrases, representative of the virtues’ work to
encourage from on high, and to lament.46 Just before they sing “O uiuens
fons,” the virtues sing in response to the penitent soul, in company with
Humility: “We wish to lead you back and do not want to leave you, and the
armies of all of heaven will rejoice over you: therefore it is fitting that we sing
out in a symphony” (OV, 265-67). That symphony is “O uiuens fons.” The
piece represents the joining of two things—of text and music, of body and
soul, and of humanity and divinity.47 Here the symphony is made from
Hildegard’s two well-established musical dimensions, the melodic materials
of E and of D. This symphony begins in E but then is transformed to D,
sounding out the familiar leaps up the fifth to the octave, with the characteristic
decorations of the key pitches, and then closes rather abruptly on E (see Ex. 9),
fitting in that the virtues next encounter Satan, who speaks directly after the
chant ends. The effect is the joining of two carefully established musical realms
into one: the virtues are preparing for something new for themselves and for
Anima, the taste of Victory. This music, sung in the face of Satan, represents
the one way that Satan was conquered, by the joining of two things never
expected: divinity and humanity, brought about through the Virgin Mary. The
escaping prey, Anima, also has learned to conquer through the humility of
penance, an action the Master of Pride cannot comprehend. In the plan below,
letters represent melodic material that is restated and played upon in the course
of the piece.
“O uiuens fons”
O uiuens fons, quam magna est suauitas tua (lower part of e-range) (w)
[O living fountain, how great is your sweetness]
qui faciem istorum in te non amisisti (w expanded upwards, but
cadencing on D)
[you who did not reject the gaze of these upon you]
sed acute preuidisti (compacted y)
46. It is to be noted that “O uiuens fons” is mistranscribed in the edition of Hildegard’s

music that is often followed by scholars and performers: Lieder, ed. Barth, Ritscher, and
Schmidt-Görg; and as re-edited by Stühlmeyer.
47. “The Holy Spirit makes music in the tabernacle of Virginity; for she always thinks of
how to embrace Christ in full devotion. She burns for love of Him and forgets the human frail-
ties, which burn with carnal desire; she is joined to the One Husband Whom sin never touched,
without any lust of the flesh, but flowering perpetually with Him in the joy of regal marriage”;
Scivias III.viii.16; 43A:503; 440–41.
[but acutely foresaw]

quo modo eos de angelico casu (x+z)
[how you could avert them from the fall the angels fell]
abstraheres qui se aestimabant (y)
[who thought they possessed a power]
illud habere (low range)
quod non licet sic stare (y)
[which no law allows to be thus]
Unde gaude (z)

Filia Sion (x)
So rejoice Daughter Sion
quia Deus tibi multos reddit quos serpens de te abscidere uoluit (x+y')
qui nunc in maiori luce fulgent, quam prius illorum causa fuisset (x+y')
For God is giving you back many whom the Serpent wanted to cut from you
Who now gleam in a greater brightness than would have been possible before.
Act IV contains the musical and dramatic resolutions of the work, spun out
in several ways, and closing on a note of lament, lacking resolution. The first
of these is manifested in the words and music of Anima. The Soul was able to
sing in D once more at the end of Act III, acknowledging the wounds that
Pride had made, and accepting Humility’s medicine. But it sings only in the
lower part of the range. At the opening of Act IV, the Devil speaks to the
Soul, wondering how she, once locked in a Hellish embrace, has been lost.
The Soul then fights back, claiming that now it can recognize Satan’s working
methods. Still fearful, the “penitent soul” (as labeled in the manuscript) calls
on Humility, requesting her medicine, and in its call for need is able for the
first time since it became “heavy” to make the octave that characterizes the
full complex of D melodies, which have just been heard in “O uivens fons.”
Inner victory has been achieved through desiring Humility’s salvific ointment.
Much of what Hildegard has done with the music of the play has antici-
pated the moment when Anima becomes penitent and then can be free from
Satan’s harm. Victory sings over the bound body of the Devil (if staged,
ideally with her heel grinding into his head).48 This is an allegory for the soul
that has bypassed its love of the wrong things, especially in the case of lust,
and become capable of having Christ within through an act of penance,
which requires the full participation of Humility. The Virgin Mary is the
proper model for the Christian soul in this and other contemporary theolog-
ical works, including Hugh of St. Victor’s De Sacramentis Christianae Fidei,
a treatise that Hildegard seems to have known, at least indirectly. Victory’s
48. Genesis 3:15 (God to the serpent): “I will put enmities between thee and the woman,
and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”
Example 9 “O uiuens fons”; Wiesbaden 2, fol. 481r. A sound recording of this example
appears in the online version of the Journal.
w
Virtutes
& œ œ œ œm œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
O ui - uens fons, quam ma - gna est su - a - ui - tas
w expanded upwards
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ
tu - a, qui fa - ci - em i - sto - rum in te non
œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
compacted y
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
a - mi - si - sti, sed a - cu - te pre - ui -
x+z
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
di - sti, quo - mo - do e - os de an - ge - li - co
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
y
œ
ca - su ab - stra - he - res, qui se e - sti -
low range
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œm œ
ma - bant il - lud ha - be - re
& œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ
y
œ m œ
quod non li - cet sic sta - re.
z x
& œ
m œ œ œ œm œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Un - de gau - - - de, ! - li - a Si - on,
& œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
x+y'
œ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ
qui - a de - us ti - bi mul - tos red - dit,
& œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
quos ser - pens de te ab - sci - de - re uo -
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ
x+y'
& œ œ
lu - it, qui nunc in ma - io - ri lu - ce ful - gent,
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
quam pri - us il - lo - rum cau - sa fu - is - set.
final song is in C, and is a direct restatement of a passage from the famous

Marian antiphon, “Ave Regina Caelorum,” long anticipated by C material
in the play. Victory sings a quotation taken from the part of the chant that
bids the Virgin to rejoice (see Ex. 10a and 10b, material from “Aue regina
celorum,” Victory’s triumphant speech, and the opening of “O nobilissima
uiriditas”), so forming both a musical and textual link to the antiphon.49
Hildegard wished the audience to hear the carefully planned foreshadow-
ing she built into earlier C material, creating in those who knew the piece
well an expectant longing for the famous “Ave Regina Caelorum.” The pen-
itent soul achieves final Victory when it can join fully with the Virgin Mary as
its model, encouraged by the Virtues. The Marian melody quoted in the play
is directly tied to one of the Scivias songs as well, “O nobilissima uiriditas,”
the responsory written for Virgin saints, and so is a further celebration of
the power of the Supernal Branch that includes the virtues who represent the
special gifts of virginity, especially as embodied within Mary. Hildegard has
designed the text of this responsory interactively with the text she wrote for
this part of the play, using music to link the works in yet other ways, thus cre-
ating a powerful link between the play and the songs:
O most noble greenness, which grows from the splendid Sun. Your bright
serenity shines in the Wheel of Godhead. Your greatness surpasses all earthly
knowledge, and heaven’s amazement surrounds you in an embrace, as you
glow like the dawn and burn like the glory of the Sun.50
The connections with the particular set of virtues developed in the
Ordo Vitutum are consistent, in text, in music, and in direct connection to
the Scivias songs. They belong to the virginal Supernal Branch referred to in
Scivias III, iv, arrayed among the saints on the wall of Grace, positioned to
confront the Devil (who lords over the northern part of Hildegard’s cosmos)
face to face.
The Ordo Virtutum has a very different ending, both from the EV (see
Table 3 and discussion below) and from the close of Scivias. It includes a fi-
nal confrontation between Chastity (in D) and the Devil, who tells her that
she is not real because her womb has not produced children. Chastity retorts
that her womb did produce, and that the child is the Devil’s undoing. And
the virtues respond in D, with the triumphant song “O Deus, quis es tu” in
which the virtues ask that they may “guide your children with a favorable
49. The source of Victory’s song was first identified in my “Composer and Dramatist,”
without exploration of the full implications of this borrowing. Relationships between e-melodies
in Hildegard’s songs and the OV are explored in Stenzl, “Wie hat ‘Hildegard vom Disiboden-
berg und Rupertsberg’ komponiert?” Hildegard’s reference to “Ave regina caelorum” also al-
lows for emphasis on the stirps Jesse theme that is fundamental to the play, for Mary is hailed
as “radix,” root, in the chant.
50. The text of this song is found both in Latin and in English in Hildegard of Bingen,
Symphonia, ed. and trans. Newman, 2nd ed., 218–19 (translation modified by Fassler).
Example 10a Victory’s song and its model, showing “Gaude virgo,” from the antiphon
“Aue regina celorum,” and, below that, Victory’s song, based on “Aue regina celorum” (open
noteheads = borrowed music). A sound recording of Victory’s song appears in the online version
of the Journal.
“Gaude virgo”
& œ œ œ bœ œ
Gau - de uir - go glo - ri - o - sa su - per
Victory’s song
˙ m˙ œ œœ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ ˙
& ˙ ˙ œ œ ˙ ˙
Gau - de - te o so - ci - i qui -
œ œ œ œ
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
o - mnes spe - ci - o - sa
& ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ
- a an - ti - quus ser - pens li - ga - tus est
Example 10b Victory’s song and its model, showing “Aue regina celorum” (open noteheads =
borrowed music), and below that, the opening phrase of the responsory “O nobilissima,”
(Wiesbaden 2, fol. 471r) modeled on the antiphon “Aue regina celorum” A sound recording
of the responsory appears in the online version of the Journal.
“Aue regina celorum”
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
A - - - ue re - gi - na ce -
b
Responsary “O nobilissima”
& ˙
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙m˙ ˙m˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
O
& ˙ œ œ ˙m˙ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ ˙
œ œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙m˙ ˙
no - bi - lis - si - - - - - -
& œ œ œ œ
- - - - - - lo - rum
& œ œ œ ˙
œ œ m œ ˙ ˙
& ˙
œ mœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ mœ œ ˙ ˙
- - ma ui - ri - di - - - tas
Example 10b continued
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Sal - ue ra - dix
& ˙ m œ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ bœ œ m œ œ œ
˙ œ
que ra di - - - - cas in
& ˙ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ œm œ œ œ
˙
et que in can - di - - - - -
& œ œ œ œ œ
sal - ue por - ta
& œmœ œ œ ˙ ˙
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ ˙
so - - - - - - - le
&
œ œmœ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙
- - - - - - - - da
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
Ex qua mun - do lux est
& ˙ ˙ ˙ m œ ˙
œ œ œ œ
˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ
se - re - ni - - - - ta - te
& œ œ œ œ œ
or - - ta
& œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙
m ˙ œ œ mœ œ
wind . . .” and “lead them into the celestial Jerusalem” (this text is also
found at the close of the EV in Scivias III.xiii.9; see Ex. 11).
But this glorious hymn in D is not the end of the OV. Instead, it is
undercut by yet another song, a lament in E, whose text and music are
crucial for understanding the play, and its relationship to the treatise
Scivias. The play, I have argued, is about one set of virtues (and one set
of saints), those of the Supernal Branch, the Virgins, whose leaders are
Example 11 Opening of the penultimate song “O Deus, quis es tu” (“O God, who are you,
who within yourself made such a great plan . . .?”) (Wiesbaden 2, fol. 481v). A sound recording
of this example appears in the online version of the Journal.
Virtutes
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ mœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& œ œ m œ œ œ œ mœ
O de - us, quis es tu, qui
œ œ œ œ œ œ
& œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
in te - met - i - pso hoc ma - gnum
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œmœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
con - si - li - - - um ha - bu - i - sti,
O God, who are you, who within yourself made such a great plan. . . ?
Mary and the virtue she perfectly embodies, Humility, who is queen of
the virtues in Hildegard’s play. These special groups of virtues have been
depicted especially through reference to Scivias III.ii as inhabiting partic-
ular towers in the Edifice of Salvation, and they relate as well to the Rule
of St. Benedict. Through joining imagery from the Jesse tree, the flower-
ing branch, and the Rule, Hildegard has created a play especially for
Benedictine nuns. At the close of the Ordo Virtutum, the virtues refer-
ence particular places in the Edifice of Salvation once again, the interrup-
tions in the unfinished walls described in Scivias III.ii.18. Hildegard says
the edifice remains imperfect, as does the Church.
The close of the OV repositions the virtues, still working, still trying to
build the body of Christ that is depicted as unfinished at the eastern apex of
the structure (see Fig. 2 above). And so they sing with material that relates
directly to that of the song “O uiuens fons” described above, the song they
chanted at the moment that the Soul was strong enough to combat the Devil
face to face. It is, as we have seen, E material moving to D, a symphony of the
two music polarities that are explored throughout the Ordo Virtutum. The text
of “In principio” is a tale of fallen humankind, and a plea from Christ himself
to join, through the act of humility he modeled from the Cross. Here Hil-
degard speaks of the golden number, the number of saints, which, once
achieved, will lead to the end of time. There is a longing for this, a lament
for the completion that was referenced at the opening of the play.
The mystical sense of this final chant relates very much to Hildegard’s
description of the lament of souls in Book I: “. . . I should have been a com-
panion of the angels, for I am a living breath, which God placed in dry mud;
thus I should have known and felt God. . . .” (Scivias I.iv.1; 43:62; 109).
Hildegard also links the chant to the tower found in Scivias III.viii, the Hu-
manity of the Savior. The Ordo Virtutum ends near this tower, for it stands
beside a gap in the walled allegorical edifice, the place where the saved souls
will become living stones, layering soul by soul until the wall is completed
and time will be no more. Mystically, Hildegard explains that Scivias I.vi.1
and Scivias III.viii have the same location: “. . . this shadowed pillar is stand-
ing in the same place in the building where you had previously seen . . . a great
four-sided radiance of brilliant purity” (Scivias III.viii.12; 43A:494; 435).
And next to the pillar is the break in the wall: “for the place of those yet to
be born is empty, and the wall of their good works has not yet been built”
(Scivias III.viii.11, 43A:494; 434).
The work of the virtues is ongoing, and they cannot rest, ending with a
plea for all to experience the feeling of sorrow that is crucial for true penance,
and that will then prepare the redeemed for joyous praise at the end of time.
“In principio” is meant to be a last interlude, sung before the final act of Hu-
mankind’s great dramatic venture, which, in accordance with Hildegard and
the Book of Revelation, will be marked by return to a pre-lapsarian, even to
a pre-hexaemeral, state.51 Accordingly, when the hand of the last human who
completes the golden number reaches upwards in penance and praise, then
the scrolls will roll, the trumpets will sound, judgment will come, and time
will be no more. The play’s ending is sung on an apocalyptic edge.
The Ordo Virtutum and the Exhortatio Virtutum

Hildegard chose the virtues who sing their roles in the Ordo Virtutum very
carefully, making them part of a specialized coterie taken from a far greater
group that appears in the treatise as a whole (see Table 1). The virtues of the
OV have a special role to fill in the journey of a soul toward God, that which
conditions the inner dynamic of the human/God relationship to work like
that of a bride who dances before her beloved, an image of particular impor-
tance in monastic communities, especially those of nuns.52 But Hildegard
fashioned another dramatic scene, one with text only that falls near the
end of Scivias, and that she calls an Exhortation of the Virtues (EV).
Although the treatise Scivias as a whole is usually not considered in the de-
bate, scholars have long argued over the relationships between the freestand-
ing, neumed Ordo Virtutum and the dramatic work incorporated into Scivias
51. Revelation 22:3–5: “And there shall be no curse any more; but the throne of God and
of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face: and his
name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more: and they shall not need the light
of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall enlighten them, and they shall
reign for ever and ever.” In Scivias, the two thrones are positioned at the Eastern apex of the
Edifice of Salvation, that of the Son of Man being incomplete.
52. Twelfth-century Cistericians emphasized a literary tradition in which the monk was the
bride of Christ. For discussion, see Newman, “What Did It Mean to Say ‘I Saw’?”
(EV). Peter Dronke is one of the few scholars who believe that the OV
came first, and that the EV is derived from it, with cogent reasoning
based on the state of the sources. He observes that when the texts of the
OV and the EV differ, the OV has the better reading. But most others
disagree.53 In the larger sense, of course, it does not matter which came
first: the grandiose chicken (as I believe along with Dronke) or the egg
produced by its body—Hildegard surely had both chicken and egg in her
mind as she wrote Scivias. It is perfectly possible, as I and others have done, to
supply music for the text of the shorter version of the Ordo Virtutum given
at the end of Scivias and create a second work.54 And such a version can
work well dramatically, whether Hildegard intended this mode of performance
or not.55
Indeed, there are significant differences between the two dramatic works,
and these help explain what Hildegard’s intentions were with the neumed
play, the Ordo Virtutum, the only one we know for sure that she intended
to be sung, and surely for performance within her community. Genre has
a great deal to do with the differences between the play (OV) and the dra-
matic text (EV) at the close of Scivias, the latter being a theological treatise
with no music or implied performance directions. In the case of the OV, the
genre she plays upon is the Ordo Prophetarum, a widespread type of sung
dramatic work performed in many medieval churches and cathedrals on
Christmas Eve.56 In a traditional Ordo Prophetarum, which is based on read-
ings for the office adapted from a sermon by the fifth-century Carthaginian
Quodvultdeus, characters from the Bible and sometimes from classical
antiquity come forth one by one to announce the coming of Christ. In
addition to several shorter works in the genre, the Ordo Prophetarum was
also adapted for the so-called Jeu d’Adam (originally called the Ordo
representacionis Ade) and the Christmas play found in Carmina Burana.
53. For Dronke’s arguments, which are based on comparison of textual variants in several
parallel passages, see esp. his “Problemata Hildegardiana.” Contrariwise, Simon believes that
the playlet at the end of Scivias is the source of the play, and cites some scholars who agree in
“Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) and Her Music Drama Ordo Virtutum.”
54. An adaptation of the EV with music was created by Jane Huber and me at Yale Univer-
sity in 2003, and produced on the quad of Yale Divinity Quadrangle, with Susan Hellauer play-
ing the role of Humility. We did the obvious thing, taking music from the OV and using it for
the texts of the EV; I confess, however, that during this time of cutting and pasting, I did not yet
understand the underlying musical form of the OV, and had not studied it carefully in conjunc-
tion with Scivias.
55. Fontijn’s multimedia book Vision of Music in Saint Hildegard’s “Scivias” argues that the
EV was created by Hildegard before the OV.
56. Dronke, in Nine Medieval Latin Plays, mentions the fact that Hildegard was referenc-
ing the tradition of the Ordo prophetarum in the OV. For bibliography and an introduction to
the tradition, see Lagueux, “Sermons, Exegesis, and Performance”; Hodapp, “Performing
Prophecy”; and Brockett, “Previously Unknown Ordo Prophetarum in a Manuscript Fragment
in Zagreb.”
The Danielis Ludus of Beauvais is an entire work based around the prophecy
spoken by Daniel in the traditional prophets’ play.57
Hildegard adapts this popular tradition through a strategy of reversals:
instead of the Prophets, each announcing him or herself in a long exegetical
parade, the Prophets introduce a group of allegorical beings, who, each in
turn, announce the particular characteristic she represents. The company of
virtues takes the place of the Prophets (who are heard from no more), and is
present throughout the play as a group responding to the solo statements of
each virtue. Hildegard’s play is a way of representing a particular company of
characters, but superimposed upon this transformed genre is yet another
plot, that of the epic journey of a soul, the character Anima, who is warred
over by the virtues and Satan.
Hildegard transformed dramatic tradition twice, then, keeping the static
procession fundamental to the Ordo prophetarum, but changing it by using
a group of “ideas” that lead in purposeful ways from one set of understand-
ings to another. She then added a dynamic quality not found in the original
tradition, positing the journey of a soul from one set of virtues to the next, in
a psychodrama that acts out a vision of regained spiritual health. The creative
mingling of tradition and novelty is characteristic of Hildegard’s music, but
this play is the most complex individual undertaking in her musical oeuvre,
rivaled only by the Scivias songs, the group of chants whose texts alone are
featured near the close of the treatise (see Table 3), and her set of pieces
for St. Ursula. As a result, the Ordo Virtutum provides an opportunity for
understanding Hildegard as a composer of a large-scale work, and, we have
seen, one with a sophisticated sense of narrative that is brought to life
through parallel tensions and resolutions created within the music.58
57. This reference is to fully sung liturgical dramas, and not to late medieval play texts with
incidental music. Bibliography on the subject of meanings in sung liturgical plays is wide rang-
ing, with each individual play, tradition, or playbook having its own set of problems and corre-
sponding literature. As a result, there is at present no satisfying single volume work that focuses
on medieval music drama, its contexts and meanings. On the Danielis Ludus, see my “Feast of
Fools and Danielis Ludus”; Ogden, ed., Play of Daniel: Critical Essays; and the edition and com-
mentary by Dronke in Nine Medieval Latin Plays, 110–46.
58. There have been many theories about the play’s purpose. Dronke (Nine Medieval Latin
Plays and the introduction to his edition in Opera minora) has argued that it was created for the
dedication of Hildegard’s new church at the Rupertsberg. Sheingorn believes that it was created
for the service of the consecration of nuns: “Virtues of Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum; or, It Was a
Woman’s World.” Iversen explores the themes of loss surrounding the character Anima, relating
them to Hildegard’s young friend Richardis von Stade, a nun at the Rupertsberg who left
against Hildegard’s wishes to become an abbess herself, and died shortly thereafter. Richardis
died in 1152, and so this is the date Iversen gives to the completion of Scivias and the writing
of the OV. See Iversen’s “Réaliser une vision,” and her “O Virginitas.” I have argued that the
play was more important to the liturgical life of the community than has been previously
recognized, and have speculated that it may have served also as part of a ritual event to take place
before the monthly reception of communion; see “Music for the Love Feast: Hildegard of
Bingen and the Song of Songs.”
Table 3 Lines of the Dramatic Works (EV and OV) Compared

Ordo Virtutum: Noted Version Exhortatio Virtutum, Text Only
Scivias, Book III, Vision 13, Chapter 9
Ed. Peter Dronke, Corpus Ed. Führkötter and Carlevaris, Corpus
Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis, 227 Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis. 43A
Lines 1–360 Lines 225–249
Dramatic work is prefaced by the Scivas
Songtexts Chapters, 1–8
Mary (antiphon and responsory)
Angels (antiphon and responsory)
Patriarchs and Prophets (antiphon and
responsory)
Apostles (antiphon and responsory)
Martyrs (antiphon and responsory)
Confessors (antiphon and responsory)
Virgins (antiphon and responsory)
“Ordo Virtutum” “Exhoratio Virtututum”
1–13 Patriarchs/Prophets/ Virtues Act I 14–69 Not present, prose introduction instead
“O plangens uox” 70–79 245–311, basically the same
Devil with Humility and Virtues 80–102 Found as prefatory material in chapter 8
Same with much rearranging of lines; some
material appears later 313–349
First set of Virtues, one by one 103–148 Missing entirely
Interlude: “Flos campi” with Innocence and Missing entirely
Contempt 149–166
Second set of Virtues, one by one Missing entirely
167–218
Virtues with the Penitent Soul Present with some rearranging of lines
219–271 350–407
Interlude Found as prefatory material in chapter 8
“O uiuens fons”
272–283
The Battle Basically the same, 408–441
284–313
Ending, very different 442–449 (different, for comparison only)
314–360
Long scene with Chastity Missing entirely
“O Deus quis es tu” Included
“In principio omnes” Missing entirely, prose ending instead
Table 3 compares the OV to the EV.59 It can be seen immediately that the
OV is far longer than the scene in the treatise. The EV offers a general state-
ment about all the virtues and their many workings in the treatise Scivias. So
Hildegard selects out only three in this dramatic scene to work with the col-
lective group: Humility, who is the general queen of all virtues; Knowledge
59. These ideas and a version of this table were offered as part my presentation on the Ordo
Virtutum, given at the National Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Quebec,
2007.
of God, who, as we have seen, helps to define the soul’s journey; and Victory,
who represents the triumph of the Virgin Mary, the new Eve, over Satan and
the powers of Hell, through the joining of human flesh to divinity. There is
no particular smaller set selected out to make a thematic point, no ordo vir-
tutum. The EV closes with the text of Victory’s final song and the hymn of
praise (which is the penultimate text of the OV). Missing completely is the
long scene between Chastity and the Devil. We can conclude that the EV at
the end of Scivias is not about the Supernal Branch that sprouts from Jesse’s
loins, crucial in the theological universe of twelfth-century Benedictine nuns.
Study of the treatise, the play OV, and the short dramatic work, the EV,
suggests that Hildegard wrote the musical work interactively with the trea-
tise; at the same time she must have also been creating the Scivias songs, and
certainly was making the connection explored above between the music of
the play and of the song “O nobilissima uiriditas.” She must have known
about the songs and the musical play as she laid out the Edifice of Salvation
in Book III of Scivias. Moreover, her emphasis on the virtues in Books I and
II demonstrates that they were a well-worked out group of characters in her
mind, or became well worked out, during the decade that she labored upon
the treatise. The emphasis that she gives to the particular group of virtues
featured in the play is carefully built up in the treatise Scivias. In addition, the
long chants found between the acts of the Ordo Virtutum, so deliberately
designed in both their textual and musical dimensions, are fundamental to the
action of the play and the unfolding of its musical narrative. Yet, as can be seen
in Table 3, two of these texts—“O plangens uox” and “O uiuens fons”—are
simply posited at the opening of the EV, one of several features that makes
this dramatic scene appear to be a skillful truncation of the OV, and so a
shorter work crafted for the end of the treatise. Indeed even this reordering
of two of the interludes is not particularly troublesome if the dramatic scene
is viewed as part of a treatise, a work meant to be read. However, it must be
asked if simply adding music to it could do violence to what is a skillfully
wrought music drama, or if Hildegard had this possibility in mind as she wrote
the end of the treatise. For that we must look at the structure of Scivias III.xiii
(see Table 4).
In III.xiii.8 Hildegard has chosen two of the interlude chants from the
Ordo Virtutum—“O plangens uox” and “O uiuens fons”—to serve as a pref-
ace to the shorter dramatic scene in Scivias III.xiii, the EV (III.xiii.9). In the
OV, these chants are of major importance: the first is a flat-out lament, a
massive cry of pain; the second forms a point of resolution and transformation
in the OV, moving from E to a middle section in D and back again. At the
close of chapter 7, Hildegard introduced “O plangens uox,” emphasizing the
sorrowing over the people “who had to be brought back to that place.” And
the short exegesis following “O uiuens fons” in chapter 8 addresses the
snatching of the prey from the mouth of the Devil, in the words of the
Table 4 A Brief Outline of Scivias III.xiii

Materials Chaps.
Visionary Statement (A) and 14 Scivias Songs,

followed by Visionary Statement (B) 1–7
to introduce “O plangans uox” and “O uiuens fons”
The lament “O plangens uox” and “O uiuens fons” 8
Followed by Visionary Statement (C)
Exhortatio Virtutum followed by Statement (D) 9
Exegesis on Visionary Statement A and the Scivias Songs 10–12
Exegesis on Visionary Statements B and C (with a bit of A) 13
Exegesis on Visionary Statement D 14
Exegesis on Praise and on Psalm 150 15–16
Living Light who speaks “of the people he rescued.” This text is not found in
the OV but relates very much to the meaning of “O uiuens fons” as that in-
terlude appears in the play Ordo Virtutum.
After transforming “O plangens uox” and “O uiuens fons” into introduc-
tory texts for the playlet, Hildegard supplies Visionary Statement C at the end
of chapter 8, which will introduce the EV:
And again a song was heard, like the voice of a multitude, exhorting the virtues
to help humanity and oppose the inimical arts of the Devil. And the virtues
overcame the vices, and by divine inspiration people turned back to repentance.
And thus the song resounded in harmony. (Scivias III.xiii.9; 43A:621; 529)
The virtues then offer an introduction, the unique text “We virtues are in
God, and there abide . . .” (Scivias III.xiii.9). And so the opening of the EV
cannot be provided with music, at least not that survives from Hildegard.
But the text itself is an excellent resume of the ways that virtues work theo-
logically, and in accordance with both Hildegard’s treatise and her play the
Ordo Virtutum: they abide in God (that is they are divine ideas); they are
warriors for God, and separate evil from good; they were present before the
Fall of Satan, and triumphed when he fell; they are ready for those who call
on them, fighting for them, and serving as guides to heaven. These points
demonstrate how different the opening of the playlet is from that of Ordo
Virtutum, sometimes through use of song texts found in the sung play, and
sometimes by adding new material.
After this initial overview, texts used for the EV are borrowed from the
OV and music could be set to them, as it exists in the OV. The texts offer
the opening of the OV that features the loss of Anima and the warning of
Knowledge of God; after this Humility calls the virtues in general to win the
soul back. The soul becomes “penitens” and then Victory enters to do her
work. The pillars of development found in the Ordo Virtutum are gone from
the EV. It, like the treatise to which it is affixed, serves to show the general
fight of virtues against the Devil, rather than the monastic play of the OV.
The EV is a twelfth-century Everyman.60 The ending of the OV too is very
different from that of the EV. As the treatise ends praising on high, with
exegesis on Psalm 150, so too the EV, which closes out with the hymn in
D “Praise to You, O Christ.” If the EV were adapted for performance, the
dramatic sense of the work would be completely different from that of the
OV, which is, in accordance with the way the music has been composed, a
deliberately open-ended dramatic work, and a call to penitence and to
worship. The two works are clearly interrelated, but Hildegard created them
for two different purposes: one for performance by her community, and the
other to close out her treatise.
Conclusion
Medieval music drama never played out of context. It was created by and
within communities, over time, every work functioning in the local tradition
and topography of church buildings, of a town and particular region, and
against the backdrop of unique liturgical, hagiographical, and musical land-
scapes. Its texts and music belonged to a communal art of memory, one con-
ditioned over time in a particular place by commonly known bodies of texts,
melodies, and themes. It is no wonder that the most difficult aspects of stag-
ing, singing, and understanding medieval music drama relate to meanings.
The plays often compare to stray historiated capitols, detached panes of
glass, lone statues found in museums today, difficult to date and place, and
to put back into their original contexts. Even when this has been accom-
plished to some degree, and iconographical puzzles solved, such objects may
prove difficult to re-imagine in their architectural contexts, as the buildings
for which they were created no longer exist.
Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum is a disembodied work, difficult to reposition,
both dramatically and liturgically. Not only have Hildegard’s church and the
other buildings associated with her disappeared, there are also no currently
known surviving liturgical books from the Disibodenberg or the monasteries
she established.61 In this study we have argued that the best arena for situat-
ing the play was created by Hildegard herself, and it is the treatise Scivias.
60. That is The Somonyng of Everyman, a late fifteenth-century English morality play. For
more on this tradition in German lands, see Ruhe, “Vom Handbuch für Priester zum Hausbuch
für Jedermann.”
61. Engelberg 103, an antiphoner/lectionary that Hesbert ascribed to St. Disibod in his
Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, is very likely not from that monastery. As stated above in note
42, Leigh-Choate has argued it may well be from a church in Sponheim, the seat of
Hildegard’s mentor Jutta (1091–1136). Engelberg 103 is now online, with a description and
table of contents prepared by William T. Flynn.
By putting the play back into the treatise one can imagine a great deal
about the composer’s intentions. This repositioning offers understanding
concerning the natures of the characters Hildegard chose from many
possibilities, including broader knowledge of the virtues, their groupings,
and the ways their movements establish the play’s complicated meanings.
It is now possible to see how Hildegard’s choices of musical materials
underscore her dramatic and theological ideas. Repositioning the play
within its allegorical setting also offers a fresh consideration of the
relationships between the play and the dramatic scene at the close of the
treatise.
The play’s music unfolds in accordance with the allegorical architectural
sense developed in the treatise. We may imagine that this understanding
had its grounding in the physical circumstances of communal life and in the
actual towers and arcades of the new church rising on the Rupertsberg under
Hildegard’s supervision.62 If this play were performed regularly, then the
community would learn a particular sense of the church in which its members
worshipped every day. Virtues as monastic helpmates would be ever in the
imagination of this community, coming from behind the columns, climbing
on the scaffolding, singing their warnings and their songs of victory.
This understanding of the play may also be helpful for those who work
with it today, providing context and a framework of understanding. To
perform Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum with knowledge of its indwelling
architectural allegory also offers a chance to regain a sense of some of the mean-
ings the church Hildegard designed long ago had for this particular composer
and her community.
Works Cited
Manuscripts
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Theol. lat., fol. 727
Cologne, Historical Archive, W 276a
Dendermonde, St.-Pieters & Paulusabdij, ms. Cod. 9
Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 103
Gent, Universitätsbibliothek, Hs. 241
London, British Library, MS add. 15102
London, British Library, Arundel 44
“Riesencodex.” See Wiesbaden, Hessischen Landesbibliothek, HS 2.
62. An engraving depicting the Rupertsberg by Daniel Meisner (ca.1585–1625) circulates on

the internet. It is found in his Thesaurus Philopoliticus, first published in 1623 by Eberhard Kieser.
Five arcades from the main aisle of the twelfth-century abbey church are all that survive today of the
complex; they are privately owned. For a plan of the complex, see Silvas, Jutta and Hildegard, 277.
In his forthcoming book, Michael Dietz offers a reconstruction of the entire complex and careful
descriptions of all various fragmentary ruins.
Trier, Seminarbibliothek, Hs. 68

Troyes, BM, Ms. 683
Vatican, Bibl. Vat. Pal. lat. 311
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 963
Wiesbaden, Hessischen Landesbibliothek, HS 1
Wiesbaden, Hessischen Landesbibliothek, HS 2. “The Riesencodex.” Accessed
September 2012. http://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set[zoom]=min&set[mets]=http%
3A%2F%2Fdokumentserver.hlb-wiesbaden.de%2FHS_2%2Fmets17.xml
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Abstract
Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum has come to occupy a major role

among Western European dramatic musical works, with scenes widely
anthologized, multiple studies in print, and several recordings. I argue that
the “setting” of Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum is the allegorical architecture
created in her first major treatise, Scivias, written in the 1140s and early
1150s. In this period, while Hildegard was composing the play and writing
her first major theological work, she was also designing a complex of new
monastic buildings, which helps explain her concentration on architectural
themes and images. Hildegard has situated the main “acts” of the play
within allegorical towers, and the musical dimensions of the play are driven
by its unfolding within this architectural understanding, including the

“climbing” through the modes and the development of longer processional
chants that link the action in one tower or pillar to that of another. We can
see that the particular characters chosen for the play from a broad array of
possibilities, underscore themes that relate to the lives and governance of
Benedictine nuns. Hildegard’s work provided parallels for her community
between the allegorical architecture of Scivias, the play and its music, and
the new church whose building was overseen by Hildegard.
Keywords: Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, Ordo Virtutum, virtues, medieval

drama and architecture

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Allegorical Architecture in Scivias: Hildegard’s

Setting for the Ordo Virtutum

leads to a concluding discussion of the relationships between the Ordo Vir-

The Nature of the Sources

The copying of the sources demonstrates, according to Derolez, that

makes a preface appropriate to the arguments and subjects of that particular

The Setting of the Ordo Virtutum

Table 1 below offers a kind of compendium of the virtues as Hildegard pre-

Chastity (castitas) 8/No Yes Yes

Hildegard, the result of a successful struggle is penance followed by the praise

architecture of the Edifice of Salvation is modular: there is default motion

Between the Acts:

will some C and climb to B

OV/Line Nos. Characters/Action Location in the Edifice Mode/s

Between the Acts:

Virtues sing a song of praise to God: “O Deus.”

Preface to the next “Act”: The Gap in the Wall

Act I: At the Pillar of the Word of God

Patriarchs and Prophets:

Patriarchs and Prophets: Who are these like clouds?

Virtutes ad animam illam

O sweet Divinity; O lovely life

A': integritatem non amisisti [lost not your virginity]

Virtues: But all of us dwell on high.

Virtutes, two phrases from “Flos campi”

... I crush the ancient serpent.

(Discretio), borrowed from Scivias III.vi, who is depicted there carrying a

The Final Interlude and Act IV: A Play without an End

The musical interlude “O uiuens fons” forms a fitting point of transition

46. It is to be noted that “O uiuens fons” is mistranscribed in the edition of Hildegard’s

[but acutely foresaw]

Unde gaude (z)

final song is in C, and is a direct restatement of a passage from the famous

Example 10b continued

The Ordo Virtutum and the Exhortatio Virtutum

Table 3 Lines of the Dramatic Works (EV and OV) Compared

Table 4 A Brief Outline of Scivias III.xiii

Visionary Statement (A) and 14 Scivias Songs,

62. An engraving depicting the Rupertsberg by Daniel Meisner (ca.1585–1625) circulates on

Trier, Seminarbibliothek, Hs. 68

Editions and Translations

Brockett, Jr., Clyde. “A Previously Unknown Ordo Prophetarum in a Manuscript

R. Guthrie, 355–81. Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies

Seyfarth, Jutta. “The Speculum Virginum: The Testimony of the Manuscripts.” In

Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum has come to occupy a major role

by its unfolding within this architectural understanding, including the

Keywords: Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, Ordo Virtutum, virtues, medieval

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