Visionary Nun Hildegard Focus of Symposium

Visionary Nun Hildegard Focus of Symposium

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
Nov. 19, 1998

She is one of the most incredible women in history. The phenomenal 12th century Benedictine nun, Hildegard of Bingen, was the founder and leader of two monasteries, a preacher, visionary, prophet, poet, composer, healer, creator of a new language and alphabet, author of the world’s first morality play, spiritual and political adviser and more.

This year is the 900th anniversary of her birth–an occasion being celebrated around the world.

On Nov. 20 and 21, the 1998 Neil J. O’Brien Triennial Symposium in Medieval Studies will sponsor a stimulating, interdisciplinary celebration of Hildegard, featuring talks by renowned scholars, as well as music and images.

The symposium is made possible by a generous endowment from Neil J. O’Brien ’54, with additional support from the Center for the Study of Cultures, the Shepherd School of Music and the School of Humanities.

Says Honey Meconi, associate professor of music and main organizer of the symposium: “We wanted to make this more than just a general conference and instead focus on how Hildegard has been perceived throughout the centuries.” Among the wide-ranging symposium topics: Why the Nazis did not embrace Hildegard, who was German, and whether Hildegard is an appropriate subject for New Age attention.

Barbara Newman, the keynote speaker, is, Meconi says, “certainly the foremost Hildegard scholar in America. Few, if any, people in the world know as much about her as Newman, who has written three books on Hildegard. She was besieged by offers to speak this year, and this was one of the few she accepted.”

Both conference lectures will be held in 301 Sewall Hall and are free and open to the public.

On Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. there will be an all-Hildegard concert by the acclaimed British early-music ensemble Sinfonye. Concert tickets are $20 and $15 for students and seniors. The concert is presented in collaboration with Houston Early Music. For tickets call (713) 432-1744.

For more information call (713) 527-4854, Ext. 3714, or visit the Web site www.rice.edu/hildegard.