O Ignis Spiritus sets a text by the famed composer Hildegard von Bingen.

I had the pleasure of taking a course on early music during my doctoral studies at Michigan State University, and became endlessly interested in the artistry of von Bingen, as well as her contemporaries.

I won’t go into exhaustive detail about how profoundly important Bingen’s work is to Western classical music, but stately simply, she’s a really big deal.

O Ignis Spiritus is a sequence for the Holy Spirit, likely used for a Pentacostal occassion. In this setting, I really wanted to add to the vibrancy of the text’s references to “fire” and “giving life”.

Therefore, the work is ostinato-based in its conception, and creates drama through repetition, often punctuated by the stomping of feet.

Like all good music (joking), it is designed in an ABA form and moves from fast to slow to fast again.

Singers and audiences love this piece, and so do I.