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Wherever They Go

from self​-​isolation by Anne M Norman

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Wherever They Go – solo for shakuhachi & voice
by Anne M Norman 2018

based on a short song by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

The lyrics of this song probably refer to the apostles, but I feel it is about Hildegard, after the age of sixty, wandering Southern Germany on four preaching tours with her attendants. Perhaps she wrote this for her nuns to sing, to give them courage.

Being a happy wanderer myself, like many musicians, I am incredibly grateful to those who host me on my concert tours.

I have used elements of Hildegard’s melody and Latin lyrics, adding rhythmic interpretations and incidental overlapping harmonies while basically maintaining a medieval monophony. No one knows how fast Hildegard’s songs were sung in the 12th century. I have taken this work into the Zen-like meditation format of shakuhachi, basing the phrasing on arcing breaths in order to revel in the answering resonance of stone churches for performance.

HILDEGARD von Bingen was a remarkable mystic and Abbess, writing on diseases and herbal cures, her philosophy of veriditas (the vitality of divine nature) and composing melodious songs for her nuns to sing. More than eighty of Hildegard's compositions have survived.

Hildegard lived in an age when instruments were not performed in church and many believed singing to be sinful, yet she wrote: “God must be praised with all the musical instruments that the gifted and ingenious have invented.” She also wrote, “the discipline of music is diffused through all the actions of our life... every pulsation of our veins is related by musical rhythms to the powers of harmony.”

An influential woman in 12th century Europe, Hildegard lobbied the church for independent abbeys for women and was outspoken on issues of injustice. Popes, kings, clergy, laymen and wise women were influenced by her prophesies and teachings. She out-lived many popes, with Pope Eugenius III reading & approving her books on her ecstatic visions.

Following many centuries of obscurity, thanks to musicologists and medieval scholars, Hildegard’s music and writings were once again celebrated in the late 20th century, and in 2012 Hildegard was canonised by the Catholic Church — now Saint Hildegard of Bingen.

I first arranged and performed this music as a duet with soprano Deborah Kayser under the title "Unde". (see my album "Other Tracks")

lyrics

Unde quocumque veninetes perrexerunt,
Velut cum gaudio celestis paradisi suscepte sunt,
Quia in religione morum, Honorifice apparuerunt.

Wherever they go in their wanderings,
they are greeted with joy, as in Heaven,
for their faith and honour are apparent.

credits

from self​-​isolation, released March 20, 2020
Recorded and mixed by Al Future at The Chapel, Hobart, Tasmania

Photo taken by Anne in the ruins of Disibodenberg in Germany where the young Hildegard lived with other holy women in lean-to huts on the outside of the monastery. Hildegard later established monasteries for women.

To learn more about Anne and Hildegard, read her post "Hildegard on Shakuhachi" on Patreon: www.patreon.com/AnneMNorman

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Anne M Norman Melbourne, Australia

Anne is a shakuhachi player performing in a wide range of music. Anne trained in Japan in 3 lineages with Nakamura Shindo, Tajima Tadashi and Yamaguchi Goro. She has played since 1986 (following 14 years of playing silver flute). Some of Anne's albums are available as Compact Disks.
CD orders: absurdpublications.com/products-in-shop/cds/ ... more

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