Hildegard Von Bingen: Divan-E Shohud (The Book Of Visions) – Illuminans Tenebras

With the present recording Tristan Driessens and Illuminans Tenebras hope to shed new light on the music of Hildegard von Bingen, one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages. The musical approach of the ensemble shows that the monophony in the songs of Hildegard von Bingen bears a striking resemblance with various basic Ottoman makams — Kürdî, Mahur, Uşşak. Illuminans Tenebras places Hildegard’s mystical sounds alongside impassioned Eastern improvisations and links 12th-century Christian mysticism with Sufism of the same period. The recording highlights the musical and spiritual elements that the two traditions have in common: monodic melodies, improvisation, and ecstasy — music as a path to the divine.