from the liner notes:
"The twelfth century is widely referred to as having witnessed a "Renaissance" in the sense of a full cultural flowering, and this reputation is largely due to the exceptional intellectual vigor, philosophical depth and aesthetic brilliance of the monastic arts
of the time....at the age of eight, she (Hildegard) lived the
cloistered life according to the Benedictine Rule.......As abess
of Rupertsberg, Hildegard's authority, fame and creative power
increased significantly. Between 1151 and 1158 she was writing
and collecting her musical compositions.....she carried out an
extensive correspondence with important personalities in
eccliastical and temporal circles, as well as turning her energies
to compiling encyclopedic works on natural science and the
healing arts. In her own time, as in ours, the "Sibyl of the
Rhine" amazes those with ears to hear her....