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Carmina Burana is a scenic
cantata composed by
Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936, based on 24 poems from the
medieval collection
Carmina Burana. Its full
Latin title is
Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanæ cantoribus et choris cantandæ comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis ("Songs of
Beuern: Secular songs for singers and
choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images").
Carmina Burana is part of
Trionfi, a musical
triptych that also includes
Catulli Carmina and
Trionfo di Afrodite. The first and last movements of the piece are called
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi ("Fortune, Empress of the World") and start with the very well known "
O Fortuna".
In 1934, Orff encountered the 1847 edition of the
Carmina Burana by
Johann Andreas Schmeller, the original text dating mostly from the 11th or 12th century, including some from the 13th century.
Michel Hofmann (de),
then a young law student and Latin and Greek enthusiast, assisted Orff
in the selection and organization of 24 of these poems into a
libretto, mostly in
Latin verse, with a small amount of
Middle High German and Old
Provençal.
The selection covers a wide range of topics, as familiar in the 13th
century as they are in the 21st century: the fickleness of
fortune and
wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of
drinking,
gluttony,
gambling and
lust.
Orff was influenced melodically by late
Renaissance and early
Baroque models including
William Byrd and
Claudio Monteverdi. It is a common misconception that Orff based the melodies of
Carmina Burana on
neumeatic melodies; while many of the lyrics in the
Burana Codex
are enhanced with neumes, almost none of these melodies had been
deciphered at the time of Orff's composition, and none of them had
served Orff as a melodic model. His shimmering orchestration shows a deference to
Stravinsky. In particular, Orff's music is very reminiscent of Stravinsky's earlier work,
Les noces (
The Wedding).
Rhythm, for Orff as it was for Stravinsky, is often the primary
musical element. Overall, it sounds rhythmically straightforward and
simple, but the metre will change freely from one
measure
to the next. While the rhythmic arc in a section is taken as a whole, a
measure of five may be followed by one of seven, to one of four, and so
on, often with
caesura
marked between them. These constant rhythmic changes combined with the
caesura create a very "conversational" feel – so much so that the
rhythmic complexities of the piece are often overlooked.
Orff developed a dramatic concept he called "Theatrum Mundi" in which
music, movement, and speech were inseparable. Babcock writes that
"Orff's artistic formula limited the music in that every musical moment
was to be connected with an action on stage. It is here that modern
performances of
Carmina Burana fall short of Orff's intentions." Although
Carmina Burana
was intended as a staged work involving dance, choreography, visual
design and other stage action, the piece is now usually performed in
concert halls as a cantata. A notable exception is the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
version which features strobe lights and what appears to be flames
engulfing the stage, wings and balconies, pulsing intensely in time to
the music. A danced version choreographed by
Loyce Houlton for the
Minnesota Dance Theatre in 1978 was prepared in collaboration with Orff himself.
Program notes
Carmina Burana is structured into five major sections, containing 25
movements total. Orff indicates
attacca markings between all the movements within each scene.
Much of the compositional structure is based on the idea of the turning
Fortuna Wheel. The drawing of the wheel found on the first page of the
Burana Codex includes four phrases around the outside of the wheel:
- "Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno". (I shall reign, I reign, I have reigned, I am without a realm).
Within each scene, and sometimes within a single movement, the wheel
of fortune turns, joy turning to bitterness, and hope turning to grief.
"O Fortuna", the first poem in the
Schmeller
edition, completes this circle, forming a compositional frame for the
work through being both the opening and closing movements.
Orff's style demonstrates a desire for directness of speech and of access.
Carmina Burana contains little or no
development in the classical sense, and
polyphony is also conspicuously absent.
Carmina Burana avoids overt harmonic complexities, a fact which many musicians and critics have pointed out, such as
Ann Powers of
The New York Times.
Carmina Burana is scored for a large orchestra of three
flutes (second and third doubling first and second
piccolos), three
oboes (third being
English horn), three
clarinets in B-flat and A (third doubling
piccolo clarinet in E-flat, second doubling
bass clarinet), two
bassoons, one
contrabassoon, four
horns in F, three
trumpets in B-flat and C, two
trombones, one
bass trombone one
tuba; a percussion section with 5
timpani, two
snare drums,
bass drum,
triangle,
cymbals, suspended cymbal,
antique cymbals,
ratchet,
castanets,
tambourine,
sleigh bells,
tam-tam,
tubular bells, three
bells, three
glockenspiels,
gong,
xylophone; two
pianos, one
celesta; strings; two
SATB mixed
choirs (one large and one small, although a subset of the large chorus may be used for the small chorus) and one
boys' choir; and
soprano soloist,
tenor soloist,
baritone soloist, and short solos for three tenors, baritone and two
basses.
A reduced version for soloists, SATB mixed choir, children's choir,
two pianos and six percussion (timpani + 5) was prepared by Orff's
disciple,
Wilhelm Killmayer, in 1956 and authorized by Orff himself, to allow smaller ensembles the opportunity to perform the piece.
Some of the solo arias pose bold challenges for singers: the only solo tenor aria,
Olim lacus colueram, is often sung almost completely in
falsetto
to demonstrate the suffering of the character (in this case, a roasting
swan). The baritone arias often demand high notes not commonly found in
baritone repertoire, and parts of the baritone aria
Dies nox et omnia are often sung in falsetto, a unique example in baritone repertoire. Also noted is the solo soprano aria,
Dulcissime which demands extremely high notes. Orff intended this aria for a
lyric soprano, not a
coloratura, so that the musical tensions would be more obvious.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi / Part I - Primo Vere; Uf Dem Anger / Part II - In Taberna (Begining) 28:52
Side 2:
B Part II - In Taberna (Conclusion) / Part III - Cour D'amours; Blanzif Et Helena / Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi 29:18
Label: Columbia Masterworks – MQ 368
Format:
reel-to-reel tape, 7-1/2 IPS, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1960
Genre: Classical
Style: Modern
Notes:
The release came with a custom inner sleeve and a four page Informational program.
Net links:
Carl Orff/Eugene Ormandy ~ Carmina Burana complete on YouTube
