Packet 8: Tossup 14

Melodies by this composer were the basis of the Tibetan Buddhism-inspired orchestral work Rainbow Body by Christopher Theofanidis (“theo-fa-NEED-iss”). A 2025 biographical opera by Sarah Kirkland Snider explores this composer’s friendship with Richardis von Stade. This composer described a “chorzta gemma,” or “sparkling gem,” (10[1])in an antiphon about a “church immense, with arms divine enfortressed” titled “O orzchis Ecclesia.” A divine hand stretching out is represented by the highly melismatic (10[1])word “porrigat” in the final section of a work by this composer, who wrote a work in which a male voice limited to yelling and (10[1])grunting (10[4])represents the Devil. (10[4])This creator of the “unknown (10[2])language” Lingua Ignota (10[2])wrote a collection (10[1])of religious visions called Scivias. (10[1])For 10 (10[1])points, what composer of the oldest morality play, Ordo Virtutum, was (10[1])a medieval Benedictine abbess? ■END■

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