You Tube

Hildegard

1. <3 style="mso-spacerun: yes">  One of her chants plays in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGIkvmsIg7M

 

2. Hildegard von Bingen.mov, 1:29, This clip is a tribute made to Hildegard in which an antiphon of hers plays while a little biography of her life scrolls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH9a15EdqRM

 

3. Hildegard von Bingen by Catherine Braslavsky & Joseph Rowe, 6:47, This is a performance by Catherine and Joseph in which they put their own modern twist on Hildegard’s music.  They use some modern string instruments and drums.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4BGvlwyExI&feature=related

 

Clara

1. Song of Love- Part 1, 9:46, This is the first 10 minutes of the movie made about Clara Schumann.  It includes her performance for the King of Saxony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP_iU-lcZ5Y&feature=PlayList&p=3B155D8EF06D276C&index=0

 

2. Geliebte Clara, 2:08, This is a trailer for a modern film portraying the life of Clara Schumann.  Although it is in German, it is clear that the major conflict of the movie is Robert’s jealousy of her relationship with Johannes Brahms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjQ1oPM0MII

 

3.Song of Love- Part 13, 2:51, This is the concluding bit of the movie made about Clara.  Many years after her first performance for the King of Saxony, she plays for him again.  However this time her husband is dead, so she dedicates the song to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35e5MNjLJI&feature=PlayList&p=ED7C382F61FF1F8B&index=12

 

            As I looked at the search results after typing in the names Hildegard von Bingen and Clara Schumann, what immediately struck me was the sheer volume of responses.  I am certainly no music expert, but I am not foreign to the music world either, and before this class I had not heard of Hildegard, and had barely heard of Clara.  So it shocked me to see the mass amount of responses that appeared when I searched them.  What this showed me, before even watching any of the videos, was just how special and beloved both of these women were, and still are today.  It was immediately cleat just how treasured these women are.

            While it surprised me that both women’s names conjured so many search results, it undoubtedly surprised me more for Hildegard.  I’d gathered from reading Clara’s diary that she was quite well received throughout Europe.  And while I knew that Hildegard was also loved and praised as brilliant it was unclear to me whether this praise was something one would only hear in a class about women in music, or if it was widespread.  Clearly, it is widespread.  There were numerous videos that had titles that went something like “I LOVE HILDEGARD.”  One video clip I found, the title being “Hildegard von Bingen” surrounded by two hearts, did a very nice job in showing the world’s appreciation for Hildegard through numerous paintings, sculptures, and drawings that have been made over the years in her honor. 

The next video was a slideshow.  Each slide had some facts about Hildegard, and what struck me most from this piece was how Hildegard has been appreciated not only in the world of music, but also in the fields of religion and science. 

The final video clip that I watched about Hildegard was interesting because it was a modern twist on medieval music.  This couple had added in their own choice of musical instruments, including something that looked like a sitar and bongo drums.  Before this point, I had never thought of Hildegard’s music out of a medieval context.  It demonstrated the versatility of her music, which really struck me because the chants that we listened to never made me think of modern times.

After searching for Clara on youtube, it was clear that not only her music captivates people but her personal life as well.  The majority of the clips that surfaced were clips from movies that had been made about her life.  Two of the clips I found were from a movie Song of Love, made in 1947, portraying the life of Clara.  The first clip was the first ten minutes of the movie.  Here, Clara is performing for royalty in a large (and filled) concert hall.  While the music is beautiful and appreciated, what seems to be the focus of the clip is Clara’s overbearing father.  He is sitting no more than six inches behind her on stage while she performs, whispering orders in her ear the entire time. 

The focus of the last clip from the movie also seems not to be Clara’s music, but rather her grief for her dead husband.  She is performing for the same king she played for in the opening clip, and asks if she can play one of her husband’s pieces in his honor.  While the music may not have been the primary focus of either of these clips, it was still clear that Clara had numerous fans in her time.  Even the simple fact that Katherine Hepburn, one of the most famous actresses of all time, played Clara attests to her fame.  It means that in 1947, this movie was made to be mainstream, and not to be taken as obscure. 

The final clip that I watched about Clara was a trailer for modern German portrayal of her life.  This movie too seemed to focus on Clara’s personal life, although it took a different angle.  In the clip it is clear that the main conflict of the movie is going to be her husband Robert’s jealousy of her relationship with Johannes Brahms.  This movie wanted to portray Clara’s musical genius but also showed her as having a more tumultuous personal life.

Having completed this assignment, I am left craving a cinematic portrayal of the life of Hildegard.  While the movies depicting Clara’s life may not have been 100% accurate, they did an excellent job getting me excited about her music, because I was excited about her as a person as well.