Hildegard of Bingen for kids: her life, her music, and what to play first

Hildegard of Bingen was a German abbess, writer, and composer who lived from 1098 to 1179. She led a community of nuns, wrote books on religion, medicine, and nature, and composed about 77 songs for her nuns to sing. Her music is among the oldest that can still be linked to a named composer. The best first piece for a child is “O virtus Sapientiae,” a single line of song that lasts about two minutes.

Quick facts

• Born: 1098, in the Rhineland, in what is now Germany
• Died: 1179, near Bingen, Germany
• Era: Medieval
• Wrote for: women’s voices
• Known for: her songs, a sung play called Ordo Virtutum, and books on faith, healing, and plants

The life in short

Hildegard was the youngest child in a large noble family. As a girl, she was sent to live with a small group of religious women beside a monastery. There she learned to read Latin and to sing the daily services.

When she was 38, the women chose her as their leader.

From childhood, Hildegard had seen visions of bright light. At 42, she began to write down what she saw and what she believed it meant. The book took ten years. The pope read part of it and gave her his approval to go on writing.

Around 1150, she moved her nuns to a new convent of their own near the town of Bingen, on the Rhine River. She ran it for the rest of her life.

She did far more than most people of her time were able to do. She wrote about plants, animals, stones, and cures for illness. She sent letters of advice to popes, kings, and an emperor. In her sixties, she traveled through Germany to preach.

She died at 81. In 2012, the Catholic Church named her a saint and a Doctor of the Church, a title given to its most important teachers.

What the music sounds like

Hildegard’s songs are chant. Everyone sings the same single line of melody. There is no harmony, no instrument, and no steady beat. The words are in Latin.

Most chant of her time moves in small steps within a narrow range. Hildegard’s melodies leap and soar. Some cover two octaves or more, which asks a great deal of the singers.

Many modern recordings add a long, low held note under the melody. That note is called a drone.

Pieces to play first

“O virtus Sapientiae.” A song in praise of wisdom. The melody circles and rises in three waves.

“Columba aspexit.” A longer song about a dove at a window. In many recordings, a soloist and a group take turns.

“O viridissima virga.” The title means “O greenest branch.” Hildegard often wrote about green, growing things.

The opening of Ordo Virtutum. This is a play set to music. The Virtues, such as Humility and Mercy, sing. The Devil never sings. He can only shout.

Things to do together

One breath. Play “O virtus Sapientiae.” Take a breath each time the singers do. Notice how long the phrases are.

Hum a drone. One person hums one low note and holds it. The other sings any slow tune above it. Then switch.

No beat. Try to tap your foot to the chant. You cannot, because it has no steady beat. Then tap to a march and compare.

Draw the line. Trace the melody in the air or on paper as it rises and falls. Look at how high the peaks go.

Why does the Devil shout? Ask your child why Hildegard might have given music to the Virtues and not to the Devil.

How her music lasted

In Hildegard’s time, music was written by hand on parchment with small marks above the words to show the shape of the tune. Her nuns copied her songs into large books. Two of those books still exist, which is why her songs can be sung today.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Hildegard. Open the composer timeline to see how far back she lived. She was born more than 500 years before Vivaldi and Bach, the earliest composers on it. Read about more women who wrote music in women composers for kids: ten to know.

For more composers from the same country, read German composers for kids. For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.