A brass band pounded its way through Rüdesheim. The town only has a few streets, and the sound of oom-pah-pah filled every one of them as the band made its way down the Drosselgasse (a narrow alley about 10 feet wide, which by this time was elbow to elbow of people enjoying the shops and bars).
Up in the hills, however, I found nothing but peace. Wine has been grown here since Roman times, and I looked over rows of vineyards which stretched down to the Rhine. On the other side of the river is Bingen, where St. Hildegard was born in the 12th C.
A strong and charismatic woman, St Hildegard von Bingen remains one of the most prominent women in German history. Popes and kings sought her advice, and in a time when women were rarely seen, she was outspoken and honest as she strove to combine a mystical faith with a belief in the personal freedoms and responsibilities on the individual.
She wrote extensively, her treatises ranging from medical to theological to the natural world (many consider St Hildegard the founder of a scientific approach to natural history in Germany). Her music – she also composed the accompanying lyrics – remains the most commonly recorded monophony in the sacred style.
Reaching the Abbey proved an adventure. Down by the river in Rüdesheim, a lady at the tourist office kindly called us a taxi. A few minutes later, Singh the King arrived, his moniker proudly emblazoned on the side of the taxi. The man was an absolute delight; not only did he provide a running commentary on everything around us for the short drive up to the Abbey, he came back to collect us an hour later.
Singh dropped us near the entrance to the Abbey; it was a beautiful, peaceful spot. Before us vineyards belonging to theAbbey stretched up to the surrounding hills. Buzzards hovered overhead, with a pair nesting in a tower wall.
From here, I could just glimpse the Benedictine Disibodenberg, where St Hildegard was presented by her parents somewhere between the age of 8 and 14. She lived here for nearly 40 years, becoming magistra. Below the Abbey is the church of the former convent of Eibingen, established by Hildegard and which now houses the saint’s shrine. A path leads from the abbey down to the church.
The current Romanesque-style Abbey and church were built in 1904 by Prince Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg who donated it to the Benedictine Order on the proviso some nuns came to live here and honour St Hildegard’s tradition. Twelve Benedictine nuns moved to the new Abbey in September 1904, from the Abbey of St Gabriel in Prague.
The nuns who live at the Abbey still base their daily life and rituals on the 1500 year old Rule of St. Benedict. Perhaps this peace arising from a life of contemplation which overflowed me as I wandered around the grounds. Outside the church is a courtyard filled with roses and flowering trees, a perfect place simply to sit and be, to enjoy the sunshine and listen to the call of birds. Inside, the abbey church is quiet and spacious, the wall covered Beuronese-style murals, a style established by Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century.
As promised, Singh returned to take us back to town. He still had a lot to tell us. Rüdesheim has much to offer, besides the delights of a brass band. A ferry crosses the river to Bingen, and a cable car takes visitors to some ruins high above the town for breath taking views. Then there are the hiking trails in the hills. For me, however, the delights of Rüdesheim lay in visiting this memory to St. Hildegard von Bingen, and the taxi of Singh the King.
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