Hildegard of Bingen by Honey Meconi (review)

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) is remembered variously as a visionary, mystic, philosopher, and composer. She has remained one of the most prominent figures of the medieval Church, and Jennifer Bain has recently challenged convincingly the popular perception that Hildegard was only "rediscovered" in the twentieth century. There has been, however, a marked increase in the literature on Hildegard's life and works since the late 1980s, of which Honey Meconi's compact introduction is the most recent addition. Despite renewed interest in Hildegard, there seem to have been no academic biographies dedicated to her since Sabina Flanagan's 1989 study (Barbara Stühlmeyer's 2003 monograph is in German), though several trade books have been published on the subject. A number of topical studies and edited collections, notably Barbara Newman's Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard von Bingen and Her World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), have appeared over the last several decades, but they are not parallel in scope. Meconi's book is the most current introduction to Hildegard's life and works available, reflecting the most recent scholarship in the field and avoiding the methodological weaknesses others have identified in Flanagan's approach. In particular, Meconi is careful to situate assessments and analyses of biographical, theological, and musical issues synchronically, in the context of twelfth-century Germany and its culture.

The author begins directly, with only a page or so of introduction before embarking on the narrative of Hildegard's life and career, which occupies the first six chapters of the book. She outlines Hildegard's childhood and her years as an enclosed nun at Disibodenberg. Meconi offers perceptive comments about Hildegard's relationship with Jutta. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how Hildegard received papal sanction for her visions and her foundation of the convent at Rupertsberg. In describing Hildegard's new life at Rupertsberg, Meconi is quick to point out the dramatic change in musical life. Chapter 2 features a lucid, insightful discussion of the Ordo virtutum, its spirituality, and how it fit into the monastic culture at Rupertsberg, as well as addressing possibilities for performance.

Soon after the move to Rupertsberg, Hildegard suffered a great personal loss when Richardis von Stade (d. 1152) was made abbess of a monastery at Bassum. Although Richardis had been Hildegard's subordinate, as well as a friend and assistant, she would now outrank Hildegard, whose title, magistra, was lower on the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Meconi details Hildegard's unsuccessful efforts to keep Richardis at Rupertsberg, suggesting at one point that the Ordo virtutum may have been a reaction to Richardis's "desertion" (p. 28). The chapter also describes major developments of this period, like the dissemination of Hildegard's writings in manuscript form and the financial independence of her community at Rupertsberg, no small feat given the resistance from Disibodenberg.

The community secure, Hildegard wrote treatises and composed music prolifically. Meconi addresses the genesis and nature of major theological works like Scivias and the Liber vite meritorum, as well as the scientific treatises Physica and Cause et cure. Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum receives the most extensive treatment here, which is not surprising given the scope of the book. Meconi offers a thoughtful discussion about the circumstances and context of the Symphonia, suggesting practical and theological reasons for the importance of music to Hildegard's total oeuvre. Chapter 6 focuses on Hildegard's life and works after the death of her confessor and friend, Volmar, in 1174. Meconi outlines the composite quality of Hildegard's vita and uses the nun's correspondence with Guibert of Gembloux (892–962) to begin an examination of the nature of Hildegard's visions. The chapter also includes a lively description of Hildegard's victorious conflict with Church authorities over the burial of an excommunicate, as well as a carefully compiled account of Hildegard's death.

Before turning to Hildegard's music, Meconi provides a compact...