Ordo Virtutum: Introduction by Hildegard von Bingen

After watching the video in class I have been fascinated with this particular work by Hildegard.  It is too long of a work to talk about the whole thing, so I will just focus on the introduction.  In the video we watched in class the piece begins with men singing, and they represent the patriarchs and the prophets.  Then 16 women sing representing the virtues (all dressed alike in the video presentation of this work).  The men sing one more time and then they no longer appear in the rest of play.  This piece is very unique in many ways.  First, the music is newly composed, and the words are original texts written by Hildegard.  This is very different from the majority of the composing that was taking place inside of the church, which was primarily troping and sequencing.  Another unique feature of the piece is that it was meant to be acted as well as sung.  A precursor to what would later become opera and oratorio?  The music is monophonic, but the video we watched added some small bits of polyphony as well as instrumental accompaniment (which was probably not how it was performed back in the days of Hildegard herself).  In the introduction of the Ordo Virtutum we only see part of the cast of characters.  Eventually the whole thing centers around the soul (played by a woman), who chooses to follow the temptations of the devil (his part is never sung, only spoken).  Eventually, the virtues help the soul repent and forsake her evil ways, thereby giving the souls victory over the devil.  The music is very beautiful and interesting.  I was not bored during the movie we watched in class.