Hildegard von Bingen: Divan-e Shohud – The Book of Visions

Divan-e Shohud – The Book of Visions pairs the visionary chant of Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) with the improvisatory language of Ottoman and Sufi music, drawn together by the ensemble Illuminans Tenebras. The eight works recorded here — antiphons and responsories from the Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum, the third section of the 12th-century Codex Villarensis (Dendermonde Codex) — are monodic: a single melodic line, richly melismatic, ranging over two octaves and rooted in Gregorian tradition, yet startlingly soloistic for their time.

The ensemble’s core insight is that Hildegard’s melodic mysticism shares deep structural kinship with the modal makam system of the Ottoman, Persian, and broader Islamic musical world. Rather than accompanying these chants with medieval fiddles, Illuminans Tenebras sets them alongside the ney (reed flute) and oud, instruments central to Sufi devotional practice, drawing out the taksim-like improvisatory freedom already latent in Hildegard’s melismas. The result reframes her songs to Mary, St. Ursula, St. Disibode, and the Good Shepherd as a shared path toward the divine — what Sufi tradition calls lâmekân, the “non-place” beyond place, echoing Hildegard’s own sense of music as a living light.

Recorded at the Begijnhofkerk in Sint-Truiden, Belgium, this release brings scholarly rigor and genuine musical daring to two mystical traditions rarely heard side by side.

Illuminans Tenebras