Music Appreciation Early Period

In order to understand how Aquinas affected both Hildegard and Guillaume, one must look at a bit of background of each. To start, Aquinas believed “everything is arranged in ascending order to God, the only necessary, self-sufficient being.” Aquinas also believed that faith and reason constitute two harmonious realms. They are not the same. Hildegard was born before Aquinas and therefore could not have been directly affected by his modernization of western thought. However, Hildegard was brought up very religious and held God’s will in highest regard. She was also taught outside of the church in what was called learned studies of natural science, medicine, and other matters.

Hildegard experienced visions, one of which led her to fully understand the meaning of the Scriptures, and she was moved to write religious poetry with music because of this. Her music reflects her religious upbringing and religious thought. Hildegard’s musical style was more so monophonic, like the Gregorian chant, and reflected the visions she had. Hildegard believed that her visions came directly from God and were God’s will. Hence the fact that she composed music based more on faith.

Guillaume, on the other hand, wrote his music based more on reason than faith. Following the philosophy of Aquinas, that only in acquisition of knowledge could one find God, Guillaume pushed to gain that knowledge and in doing so he felt rewarded. His secular music developed from this knowledge. In turn, Guillaume grew with his understanding to the point where he developed a romantic as well as literary relationship with a young woman, breaking the bonds of his religious vows. The drive behind his secular music was emotions and understanding of those emotions. Getting more specific as to the styles of both of these composers, Hildegard had no formal schooling in music, and used an improvisational style.

Hildegard had a more individual style that was improvisational, non-linear, and included "dramatic leaps". On the other hand, Guillaume used "complex structures based on the repetition and manipulation of borrowed melodies". Guillaume used strict formatting that follows a logical flow, which he borrowed from other composers Therefore, you hear large differences between Guillaume and Hildegard. Aquinas had thought that knowledge gets one closer to God. Granted, there was no need for knowledge before the time of Aquinas, but there was still that desire to be closer to God.