Update to this post — I’ve now written two more of these pieces using texts by Hildegard. Also rejigged one of those to another key so now all four of them are more comfortably singable by a standard SSAA configuration, rather than me really straining to get a low D! (Means the top line goes up higher than I am comfortable on now, but that’s kind of the point: I’m not really a soprano!)

Anyway, proposed final order to the set is now:

1. O mirum admirandum
2. Vos flores rosarum
3. O virga mediatrix
4. O choruscans lux stellaris

O virga mediatrix,
sancta viscera tua
mortem superaverunt
et venter tuus omnes creaturas
illuminavit in pulchro flore
de suavissima integritate
clausi pudoris tui orto.

O branch and mediatrix,
your sacred flesh
has conquered death,
your womb all creatures
illumined
in beauty’s bloom from that exquisite purity
of your enclosed modesty
sprung forth.

translation by Nathaniel Campbell.

O choruscans lux stellarum,
o fulgens gemma:
tu es ornata in alta persona
Tu es socia angelorum
et civis sanctorum.
Fuge, fuge speluncam 
antiqui perditoris,
et veniens veni in palatium regis.


O glittering starlight
O shining gem:
you are adorned like a noble 
you are a companion of angels
and a citizen among the saints.
Flee, O flee the cave
of the old betrayer
and come, O come into the king’s palace.

Translation (adapted from) Peter Dronke

And uh:

Virtual choir performance!

I should post the sheet music of this soon.