Hilde and Johan

By Harold Rhenisch

When the spirits of Hildegard von Bingen and Johann Sebastian Bach speak to each other through the unified voice of two renowned Canadian poets, the result is feminist, environmental song transcending individual experience, reconciled with Indigeneity, and scored exquisitely for the page and the spirit.

Hilde and Johann is a book of environmental, feminist poems musically exploring a personal and spiritual friendship between the 12th century musician Hildegard von Bingen and the 18th century composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It is set in Harold Rhenisch's long experience of Hildegard's seat at the head of the Rhine Gorge and Susan McCaslin's Lower Fraser River in British Columbia. They wrote the poems together, for the music.

Together, Harold, Susan, Hilde, and Johan read each other's music in the landscapes they know and love, to create a fugue of four voices, both unified and independent. The book breaks ground to show just how much can be achieved when poets write together, just as musicians make music together all the time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1997933438
• ISBN13: 9781997933434
• Release Date: May 2027
• Publisher: At Bay Press
• Length: 150 Pages