We still hear Hildegard von Bingen’s music being played a millennium after her living on Earth. Most often, you can find her songs as the vocal motets she originally wrote them, meaning vocally. I wanted to play more of her songs, but I was surprised that sheet music for Hildegard’s music was not easy to find. I couldn’t even find a collection of Hildegard’s music as piano sheet music! This really astounded me because she was famous in her day! If she were alive today, she’d have an empire of healing herbs for sale, a retreat center, art, books, concerts, a YouTube channel, and more.

Transcribing Hildegard’s Music

I did some digging by visiting both Seattle Public Library and King County Public Library archives. I found a publishing house called simply: Hildegard Publishing. They put out transcriptions of Hildegard’s music in the 1980’s and 1990’s and helped make her songs more readable from the Medieval-written diamond-shaped neumes, to become lead sheet notation. They appeared as high vocal music: in treble clef with lyrics (in Latin). However, they still lacked meter, chord progressions, and harmonies. I decided to take a hand at what I thought was missing.

As I begin the project, several concepts in mind. First and foremost, I wanted to honor the work, inspiration, and format of the original compositions by Hildegard von Bingen. At her time, music was largely written as an antiphon, or single note voicing. Harmonies were either non-existent, or commonly heard as intervals of 4thsor 5ths. Therefore, the beginnings of all of these songs have this in mind.

Another element of these songs recognizes their inherent therapeutic nature. In keeping in line with that, I know that these songs work best in their simplest forms. Often therapeutic harpists who play at the bedside for someone unwell will have a small harp, or a folk harp. I wanted to make this music accessible for as many people as possible, so that if the goal was to play for people with physical, mental, or sleep ailments, the therapeutic harpist could do that with the harp size available to them. Lastly, I added what I thought were pleasing chord progressions.

Once I did a few of these pieces, I realized there was something there. I felt rather called to make these songs available to other musicians. In doing so, I found out that many of my students liked playing this music too, and audiences liked listening as well. I transcribed a few more songs (with the help of listening to recordings, finding other people’s arrangements, and experimenting with what I thought where pretty harmonies and melodies). Next, I reached out to Mel Bay Publications. My samples were approved and I had one year to complete the book, Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp.

Disclaimer: I am not a Medieval scholar! I have never thought about going this route to writing historic music transcriptions before this project. It’s funny to me, because I just sort of learned as I was going along and the project kept going in a positive direction. So, I kept doing it!

Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp

After a year of working for a year transcribing these songs, the book, Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp, was published in December of 2024.

Moving on with Hildegard von Bingen

I am happy to say that once I had the book in hand, I had several concerts, lectures, and workshops with Songs of Hildegard von Bingen. This spring, I was invited to join a conversation/panel at the National Nordic Museum called “Medieval Joy” moderated by a Seattle University history professor. Next, I led a workshop and played a concert at NW Folklife. In June, I performed at Folio, a library and cultural space in Pike Place Market. I pepper in her music at weddings and private events, and look forward to future concerts featuring Hildegard von Bingen’s songs.