SYMPHONIALIS EST ANIMA

„the sound of the heart“ for female voices

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Category: Choir / Vocal , Organ / Sacred Music

The universal abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was not only a visionary in mysticism, theology, music and poetry, botany and medicine, but also in psychology: she anticipated the modern psychology of C.G. Jung and S. Freud by eight centuries. It recognised the mirror-image interplay of body and soul, the constitutive power of love and a positive world view, the imaging function of the eye and iris, the individual soul as the centre of human existence.

To See a short video trailer, click on the first photo below:

Movements: 1: That's the soul / 2: Caritas abundat (Love floods) / 3: The windows to the soul / 4: O virtus sapientiae (O power of wisdom) / 5: Symphonialis est anima (The soul is symphonic)

Duration: 13-14 minutes

Publisher of notes/sheet music: Strubeverlag Munich edition No. 6944 , ED 6944 , 2016

Instrumentation: Female voices (soprano 1+2 alto 1+2),
percussion (triangle, bowed cymbals, TamTam, claves, rubbed glass on e2)
violoncello

Text/Lyrics by: Hildegard von Bingen (Latin)

Introduction: Texts:

No . 1
So the soul is the inner stability and the carrier of the body. Therefore, o man, recognize, how your soul looks like!

No. 2
Caritas abundat in omnia
de imis excellentissima super sidera
atque amantissima in omnia
quia summo Regi
osculum pacis dedit

(translation: the love floods everything
From the depths to the highest stars
And it is full of love for everyone,
because it gave the highest king the kiss of peace)

No. 3: The windows to the soul
The power of the soul can be seen in the eyes of man, if his eyes are clear, bright and transparent, because the powerful soul resides in the man's body, in order to accomplish quite a lot of deeds inside this body. The human's eyes namely are the windows to his soul.

No. 4
O virtus Sapientiae, quae circuiens circuisti
comprehendo omnia
in una via, quae habet vitam,
tres alas habens,
quarum una in altum volat,
et altera de terra sudat,
et tertia undique volat.
Laus tibi sit, sicut te decet, o Sapientia.

(translation: O power of wisdom
understandingly surrounding
everything in a rotating manner
in a way, that has life
having three wings,
one of which flying in the air
and the other struggling on earth
and the third is flying everywhere.
Praise to you, like you deserve, o wisdom.)

No. 5
The soul is for the body as important as the juice for the tree and its strengths are unfolded just like the shape of the tree: ... SYMPHONIALIS EST ANIMA

I warmly thank the researcher of Hildegard von Bingen Dr. Barbara Stühlmeyer for suggestions, help and translation upon assembling the texts.