06
Following the series of songs in the Scivias, two chant numbers lead into the Scivias play, introduced by this transitional phrase: “And another song was heard, like the voice of a multitude breaking out in melodic laments over the people who had to be brought back to that place:”[1] The context of these two numbers side by side would be changed radically for the Ordo Virtutum. In Table 1, the left column shows that one chant, in orange, would be moved to the beginning of the longer play (number 18), and the other, in brown, would be moved to close to the end (number 71). The English translations of the Scivias by Hart and Bishop and the Ordo Virtutum by Dronke therefore diverge according to their function. Dronke’s translation of the first number responds to the Devil’s appearance:
Devil (shouting to
Anima): What use to you is toiling foolishly, foolishly?
Look to the world: it
will embrace you with great honour.
Virtues: Is this not a
plangent voice, of utmost sorrow?
By contrast, the Scivias translation makes a statement instead of a question. The Scivias (S) and the Ordo Virtutum (O) translations of each Latin line illustrate the differences:
In the Ordo Virtutum, the Devil has just interrupted the Virtues with his first appearance. The “plangens vox” thus refers back to this passage. In the Scivias play, the song’s heavy, dolorous utterances—“Heu! Heu! Ach! Ach!”—express the “lamenting” of the people described in the transitional passage. Dronke translates the passage such that Anima is identified and named—“a certain wondrous victory already rose in that Soul”—whereas for the Scivias, the Soul/Anima has not yet been introduced as a character, hence the wording: “The desire for God, while carnal pleasure flees.”
The second chant number of section 8 also connotes different meanings depending on the context and placement:
With its positive metaphor of God as a fountain and its image of the “filia Sion,” recalling the “fairest daughter” of the first responsory (song 2), Mary, this chant complements the darkness of the “plangens vox.” Again the English translations diverge. For the purposes of the Ordo Virtutum, the words are intended for Anima, who is figuratively the “daughter of Zion.” The verse works well in this context, as well as in that of a reference to the “people who had to be brought back to that place,” the text that precedes both of these chants.
The plot of the Virtues continues as an introduction to the Scivias morality play of section 9, where it is made clear that the subject of the previous song is the living light embodied as a living fountain:
The Living Light now
says of the ones He rescued,
“The guileful serpent I
flouted in his seduction,
His work was not so
perfect as once he thought it.
I swore by myself,
and I did more, far
more, for them than he did to them.
And so your joy is
ended, o serpent, your snares destroyed, and all your ferocity
Is come to nothing, O ugliest
imposter!”
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:[2]
The gist and moral of the Scivias play thereby precedes the drama in this connecting narrative. Hildegard refers to the morality play as a “song…in harmony” (“in harmonia…clamabat”), another indication that the Scivias morality play and the 14 Scivias songs were intended ideally to be performed.
The process of reconstructing the Scivias morality play involved creating a musical score to match its existing “libretto” from sections 8 and 9 of the Vision of Music (see the Appendix). Thanks to Davidson’s edition of the Ordo Virtutum, the score for this reconstruction was easier to put together; in Table 1, the process is made clear. Davidson numbered the chants for the Ordo Virtutum as 1–87; those numbers were retained and then used to order the Scivias morality play.
For those who are familiar with the Ordo Virtutum, it may be somewhat disorienting to hear the reconstruction, since their expectations have been shaped by the drama of the later play. In many instances, Hildegard improved the play from its early version, lending further credence to the order of the shorter morality play coming first, the Ordo Virtutum second as a polished end version. Taking this assumption to be correct, we can see that Hildegard made five significant insertions, shown by the white boxes in the right-hand column of Table 1:
(1) Instead of the Prologue to the Ordo Virtutum (chant numbers 1–3), which contains a dialogue between the Virtues and the Patriarchs and Prophets, Hildegard originally relied on two of the 14 Symphonia songs to characterize the Patriarchs and Prophets (section 3 of the Vision of Music): “O spectabiles viri” and “O vos felices radices” (Audio Ex. 5 and 6)
(2) Following the 14 Scivias songs, Section 8 of the Vision of Music consists of the pair of chant numbers “O plangens vox” followed by “O vivens fons” (numbered as 18 and 71 in the Ordo Virtutum). These two chants function as a Prologue to the drama of the Scivias morality play, later replaced as just described. Hildegard opened the main part of both dramas with chant numbers 4–17 where the Virtues open with the choral number 4, “O nos peregrine sumus.”
(3) In all likelihood, Hildegard named her longer morality play literally the “Order of the Virtues” due to the addition of the Showcase of the Virtues (chant numbers 25–56), in which each of the 17 Virtues introduces herself with a solo (“Ego sum…”) that is matched by a chant number sung by the Virtues as an ensemble. This conglomerate represents the largest addition that Hildegard made for the expanded drama.
(4) Following the binding up of the Devil in the Ordo Virtutum, Hildegard added a brief dialogue between him and the Virtue Chastity (chant numbers 82–84)—Chastity is not a Virtue who appeared in the original morality play. Chastity and the Devil fight over the merits of a woman’s chaste life in the convent versus those of the life of the flesh, and the Devil hisses at her “you do not know who you are,” implying that: because you have not had a sexual relationship with a man, your womb is empty. Chastity’s chants (82 and 84) are both set in d-mode, a continuity that suggests that the Devil has no power over her now that he is bound; indeed Chastity counters by stating that her male partner is Christ. The addition of this section denotes an important expansion that provides philosophical balance between the two statements of the Virtues in chants 81 and 85, and it also gives one last fight of the Devil, making the Ordo Virtutum the more powerful drama.
(5) The ending. Hildegard concluded the original play with number 86. In expanding the play with the Ordo Virtutum, she made a Postlude (number 87) to balance with the Prologue. This Postlude is essentially a narrative, presented in the first-person singular voice, whereas the Virtues always sing in the first-person plural voice. Therefore, in the original morality play, the concluding part of number 86 joins up with number 81 and 85 as a longer piece by the Virtues as a group.
Beyond the insertions reviewed above, there are other noteworthy distinctions between the two morality plays. Table 1 shows that Hildegard reworked chant numbers 65 and 66. In the Scivias play, she had the Virtues respond to Anima after just one phrase, whereas in the Ordo Virtutum she placed the choral response after Anima’s longer solo:
{Dialog between ANIMA and VIRTUTES}
The Ordo Virtutum version offers the definitive disposition between solo and chorus, as Anima goes on to sing another solo in chant number 67. In the section containing chant numbers 65–67, the composer improved it with better balance and proportion.
Hildegard described the two chant numbers of section 8 of the Vision of Music as a “lament over the ones to be recalled,” meaning the lost souls who had succumbed to the Devil. She prefaced with the heading “the exhortation of the virtues and the fight against the Devil”[3] for the play proper, section 9. In practice, the two chants move seamlessly into the play as all three choral numbers are grounded in the modal area of e4. This type of modal unity suggests again that the Scivias version is the original work.
Appendix 1 presents the score as organized for a performance of the Scivias morality play.[4] In Table 1, the incipits of the sections help locate its scenes. The Dramatis Personae are as follows: Embodied Souls, Anima (11 solos), Humility (6 solos), Devil (3 solos), Knowledge of God (2 solos), and Victory (2 solos). The Prologue consists of chant numbers 18, “O plangens vox,” and 71, “O vivens fons.” Scene 1 opens with the chorus singing “O nos peregrine sumus.” As if echoing “O vivens fons,” “O vivens sol” begins halfway through the chant. Next comes a set of solos for Anima and Knowledge of God. The appearance of the Devil with his raucous speaking voice brings Scene 1 to a close. Scene 2 begins with the chorus singing chant number 58, a lament over the lost Anima. Humility alternates with the chorus and chastizes the Devil for the harm that he has done to Anima.
Scene 3 begins with Anima beseeching the Virtues to take her back, performed in dialogue. This scene would be mostly preserved in the Ordo Virtutum, including chant numbers 59–65, the reversal of numbers 66 and 65 as mentioned above, numbers 67–70 (with 71 already moved to the Prologue of the Scivias morality play), and numbers 72–81. The Devil returns for the third and last time in Scene 4, chant numbers 72–81, where Anima and the Virtues Humility and Victory help to bind the Devil and render him powerless. In chant number 80, Victory’s marvelous “Gaudete” in C mode rings out triumph (Mus. Ex. 3). Hildegard concluded the Scivias morality play with two tutti numbers, 85–86, which she retained in the Ordo Virtutum, but added the choral number 87 as a new Postlude.