Part II: Enter the Devil (Mvt. 17-57) 27:03

ILDEGARDVON INGEN: rdo irtutum

St. Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo virtutum (variously translated as “The Play of the Virtues,” “The Rite of the Virtues,” and so on) is the only music drama from the Middle Ages for which we have a named composer. Although influenced by prophet plays (Ordo prophetarum) and the Psychomachia of fifth-century Spanish poet Prudentius, Ordo virtutum is unique in its structure, its poetic language, and of course its splendid music.

e know that this work, Hildegard’s most extensive musical composition, was completed by 1151. Not long before that date, Hildegard and her community of twenty or so nuns moved from their previous home of Disibodenberg, which they shared with a male monastic community, to a new dwelling on the Rupertsberg, adjacent to the town of Bingen. Once settled at Rupertsberg, in 1151 Hildegard completed her first book, Scivias, which chronicled an extensive set of her visions. The final vision includes a textonly version of Ordo virtutum in an abridged format clearly derived from the longer original—hence our awareness that the full Ordo was completed by 1151 or earlier. hat Ordo virtutum was actually performed as a piece of theater seems certain. The text contains suggestions of movement (“come to me”), performance directions (“shouting”), indications that the Devil is to be bound, and instructions that characters should be happy, burdened, lamenting, etc. As further evidence the Ordo virtutum was intended as an actual dramatic work, discussions of the Virtues in Scivias include detailed descriptions of attire likely reflecting costumes used in performance of the drama. And a full theatrical performance is completely in keeping with the special atmosphere Hildegard cultivated at the Rupertsberg, where she created a special language and had the nuns dress up in long white