Ordo Virtutum

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Ordo Virtutum (Latin: Order of the Virtues) is an allegorical morality play, or liturgical drama, by Hildegard of Bingen, composed c. 1151. It is the earliest morality play by more than a century, and the only Medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both the text and the music.

A short version of Ordo Virtutum without music appears at the end of Scivias, Hildegard's most famous account of her visions. It is also included in some manuscripts of the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum ("Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations"), a cycle of more than 70 liturgical songs. It may have been performed by the convent nuns at the dedication of the St. Rupertsburg church in 1152.^[1]

Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between 16 personified Virtues and the Devil. The piece is written in dramatic verse and contains 82 different melodies, which are set more syllabically than Hildegard's liturgical songs. All parts are sung in plainchant except that of the Devil. The singers represent Patriarchs and Prophets, sixteen personified female Virtues (including Humility, Love, Obedience, Faith, Hope, Chastity, Innocence, and Mercy), a Happy Soul, an Unhappy Soul, and a Penitent Soul. The Devil, who does not have the divine harmony of the other roles, shouts his part.^[2]

Contents 1 Editions 2 Recording 3 Media 4 Notes

[edit] Editions

• Peter Dronke. Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970.
• (Performing edition) Audrey Davidson. The "Ordo virtutum" of Hildegard. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute, 1985.

[edit] Recording

• Sequentia. Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo virtutum. LP: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 20.395/96; CD: CDS 7492498; MC: 77051-4-RG (1982). Includes translation by Peter Dronke.

[edit] Media

[edit] Notes